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Quiz Crowdfunding #1
What are perks? *
Perks are small gifts you give to your potential donors.
Perks are features related to crowdfunding platforms.
Perks are gifts that potential donors give to the NGOs running crowdfunding platforms.
The potential of the new crowdfunding era is highlighted by: *
The use of Social Media.
The fact that more and more people get to know about crowdfunding.
The fact that there is a major need to support social causes in order to solve the world’s problems.
When running a crowdfunding campaign, your website needs to be… *
Strengthened in terms of information and visuals.
Translated in all European languages.
Created from scratch to be brand new for the campaign to succeed.
Is it true that crowdfunding is a channel solely for non-profits? *
Yes, it is solely used by non-profits.
No, it can be used by all sectors.
No, it is also used by companies.
How social media affected fundraising in non-profits? *
Social media are used only by a limited number of people.
Through social media it gets easier to reach people and you can utilize more visual features. These people could be potential transmitters of initiatives – enhancing the potential virality of any given post.
People using media are just recipients of news and initiatives.
What is the reason for having perks? *
Perks help an NGO to get tax reductions.
Getting the perk promised can push for donating or for donating a little bit more.
Perks are used to communicate your campaign goals.
Which of the following is a tangible limit for fundraising? *
How convincing the people running the campaign are.
How much money can be invested in the campaign.
Whether the non-profit has a professional leaflet.
From the various types of crowdfunding the non-profits are aiming at: *
Loans, as they will be able to generate some revenue.
Equity, as it is great to bring more people within the organization.
Donations, as people should be interested to support a cause.
An open campaign is… *
A campaign which gives you the opportunity to get the money irrespective of whether the campaign was successful or not.
A campaign which is open only during working days.
A campaign which is only open to a specific age group, e.g. 18-25.
Which of the following are among non-profits top funding channels? *
Lotteries.
Crowdfunding.
Selling coupons.
How do you contact your donors after the campaign? *
When the campaign ends, the platform contacts with the donors directly.
When the campaign ends, the non-profit gets a list including the contact details of the donors which can be used for thanking them, as well as sending them their perk.
It is not allowed to contact your donors.
Which need is covered by crowdfunding platforms? *
They are the ones who prepare the campaigns for non-profits.
They will contact donors in order to help non-profits to achieve their funding goals.
They act as the middle-man between the non-profit and individual donors.
A closed campaign is…. *
A campaign targeted only to a closed group of donors fulfilling specific criteria.
A campaign which closes after 10 days from the beginning of the campaign.
A campaign which you get the money only if the campaign is successful, i.e. if you have reached the targeted amount.
Which payment methods are usually utilized by platforms? *
Bank checks.
Online deposits, paypal, credit cards.
What is the highest recorded amount ever raised through crowdfunding? *
More than 8 million US$.
More than 39 million US$.
More than 100 million US$.
What is the key difference between crowdfunding in the past and now? *
In the past, crowdfunding was mainly used by start-ups.
Today, people can be reached through social media while in the past only if they would visit the areas of the non-profits operations.
In the past it was easier to convince people to support your organization.
What are the crowdfunding platforms? *
Online platforms in which crowdfunding campaigns are uploaded.
Places close to the non-profits headquarters where people can go and make donations.
Online platforms which are used for uploading and selling products.
How many donors do you have to aim for? *
A successful crowdfunding requires that you get big donations from a small crowd – thus you aim for quality.
A successful crowdfunding requires that you get small/medium donations from a large crowd – thus you aim for quantity.
A successful crowdfunding requires that you aim to get all kinds of small/medium/big donations from a very small crowd in a very short period of time e.g. 2 days.
What is the average target amount by groups of people in crowdfunding? *
Groups of people (not start-ups) have been generating on average 2.000$ per campaign.
Groups of people (not start-ups) have been generating on average 500.000$ per campaign.
Groups of people (not start-ups) have been generating on average 10.000$ per campaign.
A crowdfunding campaign: *
Is the term for your Call for (financial) support. It encloses a reason for asking the money, (usually) the amount of money asked, and a timeline.
Is a term used for advocacy issues related to the causes of NGOs.
Is the term used to refer to the money gathered by an NGO through crowdfunding.
Usually the different levels of perks… *
take the form of a ladder: when people donate more they get better perks.
take the form of a competition: if you give more than others you get better perks.
Are targeted to different age groups, e.g. teenagers
What is the average donation in crowdfunding? *
18,8$.
90$.
8$.
What will you get out of a crowdfunding campaign? *
Enhanced social media presence.
Lower cash flows.
A growing number of people working at the organization.
What are the key elements of a “campaign”? *
The name of the non-profit and a description of its goals.
A reason for asking money, (usually) the amount of money asked and a timeline.
The name of the non-profit and the amount requested.
Why do people donate? *
Because of the rewarding feeling of helping.
Because it is a chance to promote themselves as philanthropists via the Social Media.
Because they can get enormous tax reductions all over Europe.
How does post-materialism affect crowdfunding campaigns? *
Post-materialism indicates that crowdfunding is very modern.
Post-materialism and the idea that people have gradually moved from insistence for material possessions to values (including altruism) has a growing number of supporters and crowdfunding platforms provide an opportunity for them to express the above.
Post-materialism helps companies to advertise through crowdfunding campaigns.
What is an “ambassador”? *
A donor who does not only give money but also disseminates the campaign through his/her social media.
A friend or relative of those who own the NGO who run the campaign.
A business partner who financially support the campaign.
Among the negative effects of social media, pick the one that is most relevant to crowdfunding. *
Social media are used only by young people who are not always able to contribute to non-profits.
The lack of face-to-face communication creates issues of trust.
Using social media is not more cost effective for non-profits.
What do crowdfunding platforms provide? *
They provide the template/page in which you upload your campaign.
They will donate the money that the non-profit that did not manage to collect.
They offer their platform to non-profits for free in the first time.
In theory which is the target audience of a crowdfunding campaign? *
The target group can include millions of people.
The target group can include employees in companies.
The target group can only include young people.
The donors you will have through a crowdfunding campaign are… *
People that are sensitive to your cause and could become regular supporters.
People that donate only once in their lifetime, definitely not proper for future campaigns.
People who will not support you in the future.
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KOffice 2.0 Beta1 Released
Submitted by Inge Wallin
The KOffice team is proud to announce the first beta of KOffice 2.0. The goal of this release is to gather feedback from both users and developers on the new UI and underlying infrastructure. This will allow us to release a usable 2.0 release, demonstrating our vision for the future of the digital office to a larger audience and attract new contributions both in terms of code and ideas for improvements. Read on for more information or see the announcement and download it from the release notes.
This is the first beta release of KOffice 2.0, and the first version we encourage users to download and try out. After a very long development cycle KOffice is now in feature freeze. The development team will from now on shift focus from new features to bug fixes until 2.0 is released.
The release team has decided that the following applications are mature enough to be part of 2.0:
KWord, Word processor
KSpread, Spreadsheet calculator
KPresenter, Presentation manager
KPlato, Project management software
Karbon, Vector graphics editor
Krita, Raster graphics editor
The chart application KChart is available as a shape plugin, which means that charts are available in all the KOffice applications in an integrated manner.
Highlights of KOffice 2.0
KOffice 2 will be a much more flexible application suite than KOffice 1 ever was. The integration between the components is much stronger, with the revolutionary Flake Shapes as the central concept. A Flake Shape can be as simple as a square or a circle or as complex as a chart or a music score.
With Flake, any KOffice application can handle any shape. For instance, KWord can embed bitmap graphics, Krita can embed vector graphics and Karbon can embed charts. This flexibility does not only give KOffice unprecedented integration, but also allows new applications to be created very easily. Such applications could target special user groups such as children or certain professions.
Unified Look and Feel
All the applications of KOffice have a new GUI layout better suited to today's wider screens. The GUI consists of a workspace and a sidebar where tools can dock. Any tool can be ripped off to create its own window and later be redocked for full flexibility. The users setup preferences are of course saved and reused the next time that KOffice is started.
Platform Independence
All of KOffice is available on Linux with KDE or GNOME, Windows and Macintosh. Solaris will follow shortly and we expect builds for other Unix versions to become available soon after the final release. Since KOffice builds on Qt and the KDE libraries, all applications integrate well with the respective platforms and will take on the native look and feel.
Native Support for OpenDocument
KOffice uses the OpenDocument Format as its native format. This will guarantee interoperation with many other Office packages such as OpenOffice.org and MS Office. The KOffice team has representatives on the OASIS technical committee for ODF and has been a strong participant in the process of shaping ODF since its inception.
Isn't it cute? :-)
The credit for this cuddly giraffe drawing goes to the OpenClipArt artist 'lemmling'. His profile can be found under http://www.openclipart.org/media/people/lemmling . Thank you!
By Johannes Simon at Thu, 2008/09/25 - 5:00am
Re: Isn't it cute? :-)
One cannot have enough cuddly giraffes. Very cute indeed ;-).
By segedunum at Thu, 2008/09/25 - 5:00am
ot: status of linuxmce?
i didn't hear anything about linuxmce in the past time. is there already someone working on it to get it into shape? the dev-ml isn't saying anything about it. i haven't found any roadmap or something like that...
By know at Thu, 2008/09/25 - 5:00am
Re: ot: status of linuxmce?
this is very off-topic, but you're right...
huge announcement:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2176025602905109829&ei=_MjbSNGmM...
but it seems nothing has happened...is it dead?
besides, linuxmce's UI is extremely ugly. xbmc is *way* better than linuxmce.
Look at it!!!
http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/377/aeonstarkhomecg1.jpg
http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/8530/aeonstarkhomemovedcx3.jpg
http://www.aeonproject.com/
but even the standard skin is way sexier than linuxmce.
looks like linuxmce was the wrong choice. I suggest going xbmc!
http://xbmc.org/blog/2008/09/18/xbmc-atlantis-beta-1-released-now-servin...
thanks for reading... :)
By fish at Thu, 2008/09/25 - 5:00am
I am one of the developers of LinuxMCE.
Yes, we agree that the Basic skin currently in use on our Orbiter is not very pretty, we do have the capability for looking a lot better, we just need interested artists to work with us for making a complete replacement for Basic, for not only one target, but 7 different device targets.
We are far superior to XBMC and other "Media Center" solutions, precisely because we are NOT a media center, but a whole house smart platform, and this whole house philosophy extends to each and every display surface in the house, not only TVs and monitors, but:
* Tablets
* PDAs
* Cell Phones
* Touch Screens on IP Phones
Can XBMC do this? no. not really.
So instead of people trying to scream at us for it being ugly, why don't interested parties come to LinuxMCE, watch the HADesigner screencasts, and help us make a new look?
That would be fantastic.
-Thom
By Thom Cherryhomes at Fri, 2008/09/26 - 5:00am
I'm atm trying to get a media center pc with linuxmce up and running for my brother.. but well.. he HATES that interface and that's the reason he's looking for something else... it feels REALLY slow and looks just plain ugly... well.. we seem to agree on that point.. also it's sometimes badly structured and challenging to use (you get tons of fullscreen messages during install that new hardware was plugged in .. good idea but it should be grouped/...)
No I'm no artist .. I'm just trying to evaluate the problem... as far as I've heard the HADesigner is pretty powerful but it's horrible to work with it .. doesn't make it really attractive for designers who are (at least the designers I know) always a bit shy about software which looks really complex...
So.. what has happend to the plans about UI3 .. there were disussions about it long time ago but it seemed like there was no decision (flash, ...) and so nothing happend.. or am I wrong here?
This post shouldn't be offending .. I'm just trying to find out how the current state of development is
By Bernhard at Fri, 2008/09/26 - 5:00am
first of all: thanks for notice our questions, Thom.
imho the design is another thing; i just wanted to know whether anyone has picked linuxmce-code up and ported it to qt4/plasma/whatever. once it is in kde, i'm pretty sure that the kde-artists are going to have a look at it ;)
By know at Fri, 2008/09/26 - 5:00am
Actually, I can control XBMC from my computer, phone, tablet, etc. because of python extensions. I don't see why I would want to however.
By T. J. Brumfield at Fri, 2008/09/26 - 5:00am
Congrats to all the KOffice devs! You do great work.
By mactalla at Thu, 2008/09/25 - 5:00am
Congrats and thanks!
Thank you to the Devs for their commitment to KOffice and all the work that went into this beta release!
Keep up the good work, it is really appreciated!
By Axel at Thu, 2008/09/25 - 5:00am
Err, I really hope the fonts in KWord will look different from that screenshot...
What's wrong with the letterspacing?
Just look at the line next to the blue man that starts with "Ut wisi enim..."
You can hardly tell where the words start!
By Typesetter at Thu, 2008/09/25 - 5:00am
Re: Typesetting
This looks like a fuck-up caused by built-in window$ font rendering routines. I know Qt strives for native look&feel, but... was it necessary to do this with the document view? Isn't it sufficient to use native widgets for the interface, and render the document with some other font rendering engine that doesn't suck as much?
By slacker at Thu, 2008/09/25 - 5:00am
If you have antialiased fonts activated, it will indeed look just like you expect it to. This screenshot was taken on a windows machine that has font hinting/antialiasing disabled. I agree, it was not a very good choice.
Fonts without antialiasing are much better for my eyes.
Except only Asus EEE PC witn subpixel rendering.
By anon at Thu, 2008/09/25 - 5:00am
Again, letterspacing problems are caused by trying to show on your computer screen what will get out of your printer. Your screen is probably around 100 dpi which means that fonts need to get hinted. Hinting means that the width of each glyph will be adjusted to the screen pixels, so it'll be different than the exact glyph width. And that means that at certain points the error becomes one pixel, which means the placement of the next glyph has to be adjusted to not let the error become bigger and bigger, and that results in either big or too narrow gaps between two letters. Your printer doesn't have that issue since it's dpi is much greater.
The other option would be to turn off all hinting, and then you get a lot of fuzziness, but no spacing problems.
By ben at Thu, 2008/09/25 - 5:00am
No, this is simply because KOffice strives to show real-sizes. So 100% means an amount of pixels that is equal to a real world size. I.e. an A4 page in KWord is really A4 size on your screen. The slight zoom (0.981 on my laptop) causes rounding errors in Qt to be very visible.
Will work on fixing.
By Thomas Zander at Fri, 2008/09/26 - 5:00am
A good start would be to read http://www.antigrain.com/research/font_rasterization/index.html
By christoph at Fri, 2008/09/26 - 5:00am
Hmm, I'm quite sure that what I was saying is the real cause. If it shows nice at 100% on your screen I think that's just luck. Move to another screen with a different dpi and it should look worse then (since measured in pixels 100% on your screen would be 98% on another for example)...
By ben at Fri, 2008/09/26 - 5:00am
Trust me, I know what I'm talking about when it comes to Qt and fonts :)
ps. never said it shows correctly on my screen.
By Thomas Zander at Sat, 2008/09/27 - 5:00am
OK, I read your reply again, and looks like I misread it. But now I see you've basically said the same I did in my first reply, only you didn't go into details how it "exactly" happens... :-)
If what I said really was wrong in some way then please tell me what exactly is wrong.
By ben at Sat, 2008/09/27 - 5:00am
The screenshot: "koffice2-beta-windows.png" is certainly not the way that I want WYSIWYG to be displayed. The glyphs appear to be hinted since they are aligned with the screen pixels. I do not want WYSIWYG to use hinted glyphs.
I trust that you are knowledgeable. However, the issue exists that: 1) Hinted at screen resolution & 2}) WYSIWYG are mutually exclusive.
Hinted at screen resolution normally makes the lines longer. So, it you are going to use hinted glyphs with the same metrics as WYSIWYG, you are going to have spacing issues like the screenshot. Whatever the cause, there needs to be a way to fix this problem.
By JRT at Sat, 2008/09/27 - 5:00am
Funny as far as I remember, there have been fonts issue in *every* promotion screencapture of KOffice..
That's too bad: there have been lots of efforts spent on it, yet they're (to some extent) wasted by the usual font rendering ugliness..
By renox at Fri, 2008/09/26 - 5:00am
i have to agree: if i had to choose between almost unreadable fonts (try to identify all the whitespaces in the screenshot) or a non-exact size, i'd choose the non-exact size, especially if that's what other word processors do too.
btw, just out of curiosity: how come this problem is so hard to solve (eg not by just using a greater precision in the calculations) ? It seems to me that moving some chars 1 px to the left / right would make the text readable, so it is not yet the "half a pixel" problem here.. I'm not implying here that i think it is a simple problem (i know problems sometimes are much harder than they look at first sight), i'm just a bit curious ... Also i guess scribus avoids these problems because they are using a whole different mechanism of font rendering ?
By anonymous coward at Mon, 2008/09/29 - 5:00am
ubuntu packages?
Has someone built them? (for ubuntu 8.04.1 with kde 4.1.x/3.5.10)
I'd be interested to try this, but I wouldn't go so far as to build it myself...
/Simon
By Simon Oosthoek at Thu, 2008/09/25 - 5:00am
Re: ubuntu packages?
Yes, see the announcement on kubuntu.org:
http://www.kubuntu.org/news/koffice-2-beta
That's for Intrepid Ibex, doesn't work for me in Hardy. :(
By Alex Medina at Thu, 2008/09/25 - 5:00am
Sorry, i'll reply to myself.
From Kubuntu's site:
Packages for Kubuntu Hardy are being worked on, but could still take some time.
how can I download the koffice-1.9.98.tar.bz2 ?
Does anybody know a good link to download koffice-1.9.98.tar.bz2 ?
By zayed at Thu, 2008/09/25 - 5:00am
Re: how can I download the koffice-1.9.98.tar.bz2 ?
You can get the source tarball here:
http://download.kde.org/download.php?url=unstable/koffice-1.9.98.0/src/
whoa for krita
My favorite part of koffice is Krita it an application that looks and feels really useful. I have not use it alot, but compare to krita 1.X it is capable of so much more. A goof job by all the Krita developers
By tikal26 at Fri, 2008/09/26 - 5:00am
the best release announcement ever
thanks really for mentioning the obvious, koffice works for linux either you use gnome or ( insert you favorite GDE)
mmmm, if only you have used more original names, except krita, honestly how we pronounce koffice, kword ?
Dander, kplato rocks ( grrrr, i hope someday we will get cost account assigned to resources )
By mimoune djouallah at Fri, 2008/09/26 - 5:00am
Re: the best release announcement ever
"honestly how we pronounce koffice, kword ?"
Kay-office and kay-word. Sort of like eye-life and eye-photo. Isn't this complaint played out yet?
By jason at Fri, 2008/09/26 - 5:00am
Pronunciation is that, but I was always wondering why the word processor component had a name so strikingly similar to the most used word processor from a very large company. The similarities between the two programs are dwindling - a new name for KWord would be brilliant. KType? KText? KProcessor?
By Morten Juhl-Joh... at Fri, 2008/09/26 - 5:00am
Re: Naming
"word processor" => "KWord". Logical. Send complaints to that other company for using a generic name as a trademark.
By zonk at Fri, 2008/09/26 - 5:00am
Note the capitalization, they help with pronunciation.
Its "Krita" and "Kivio"
"KWord", "KPresenter"
The first 2 are just single words, the second two are basically a normal word with a K plastered in front. We decided on those names many many years ago, no way to change them now :)
The problem with Knames (or iNames, Gnames etc.) is quite simple really. Suppose that you have a menu that lists your apps. If they all start with a K, it means that you need to look at the SECOND letter and beyond to determine which app is which.
Take Krunner for example. I use it to launch my apps. With Knames, I need to type more letters for it to determine what app I'm trying to launch, since lots and lots of apps start with a "K".
With more varied naming, the names would be more spread out to different letters, making it easier to select them from a list or launch from Krunner.
By Janne at Fri, 2008/09/26 - 5:00am
> Take Krunner for example. I use it to launch my apps. With Knames, I need to type more letters for it to determine what app I'm trying to launch, since lots and lots of apps start with a "K".
That's a bad example. KRunner will also match "onq" to "Konqueror", or "document viewer" to "Okular". So, it will be sufficient to type "pres" if you want to launch "KPresenter".
By Stefan Majewsky at Fri, 2008/09/26 - 5:00am
Try to simply skip typing the K the next time. I do share your sentiment about the names in menu's, although my default menu doesn't even have the names in there anymore. It is also a bit annoying if you need to edit configuration files: every file there starts with a k...
By Andre at Fri, 2008/09/26 - 5:00am
> thanks really for mentioning the obvious, koffice works for linux either you use gnome or ( insert you favorite GDE)
I think the author is may be talking about QGtkStyle (http://labs.trolltech.com/page/Projects/Styles/GtkStyle. KOffice runs w/o standing out like a sore thumb natively on GNOME.
Yes, I know I've brought this up before.
By Michael "QGtkSt... at Mon, 2008/09/29 - 5:00am
table and printing support
Two things that kept me away from kword were (1) bad table support; I have never got it right in kword and (2) ugly print-out; a document good looking on screen would be ugly when printed. Have these things improved in kword ?
except for these two annoyances I should say the kword and koffice in general are really great.
By asok at Fri, 2008/09/26 - 5:00am
Re: table and printing support
Print outs have gotten excellent. This is the main reason I picked up my participation again for KOffice2. KOffice makes PDF creation a first-row-citizen and the PDFs created at least in KWord look great!
Any text problems you see on screen are not present in the PDF.
The tables situation has not improved, we have recognized the problem though and are working on a good way to do tables. I have great ideas on how to do this and work much better using the text layout itself (meaning it will work in all koffice apps).
Unfortunately that will not make it into 2.0 so you will see that tables have gotten slightly worse. I personally think that unless we have something that actually works its not worth hacking together.
Daily SVN builds
There are ~50Mb binary ArchLinux packages, built from KDE SVN trunk every day, for Koffice available below. ArchLinux binary packages are basically tarballs that can be extracted from / (root) on any linux distro, but, some library dependencies could be different. Could be useful for some folks to try Koffice out.
http://pkg.eth-os.org/kde-svn/i686/
http://pkg.eth-os.org/kde-svn/x86_64/
By markc at Fri, 2008/09/26 - 5:00am
Will Koffice 2.0 support ODF 1.2?
or will that have to wait for the 2.1 release?
i ask because in theory the ODF 1.2 spec is due out around now........
By Dimble at Fri, 2008/09/26 - 5:00am
Re: Will Koffice 2.0 support ODF 1.2?
Yes and no. It will support some parts of 1.2, although I can't really define exactly which parts. But no, it will not support the full 1.2 spec, which is actually quite big.
But then on the other hand, no office suite supports all of ODF 1.2.
By Inge Wallin at Fri, 2008/09/26 - 5:00am
many thanks for the update.
But that is not the reason to not try to implent all 1.2 features as fast as possible ;-)
Isn't it the reason why we have the standards so we can be sure it is supported? ;-))
By Fri13 at Sat, 2008/09/27 - 5:00am
We surely do want to support as much of ODF as possible, but at the same time you have to keep in mind that we have only limited resources. Once we have the time and a reasonable enough idea of how to implement a certain feature, it will get into KOffice as soon as we're done with it.
By Johannes Simon at Sat, 2008/09/27 - 5:00am
The first thing I have missed in kword is a simple option to change the font. So, I'd suggest to enable the toolbar option by default.
IMHO 80% use only this options:
- load a file
- save a file
- change the font
- change the font size
- bold style
IMHO 15% use also
- change page layout
- add a image
- change the line spacing
- add a list
If I can do this tasks very easy, the program is well for me! :)
By Tom at Sat, 2008/09/27 - 5:00am
Re: kword
You get a context menu when right-clicking the text. Select the entry "Font..." and there you go :-)
I personally use other buttons like 'Italic' or 'Align Block/Justify' quite often, and usually change the font type only one time per document, so I'm satisfied with how things are now.
Data Pilot / Pivot Table
Hey guys: Does anyone knows if KSpread would have Dynamic Tables with Data Base support . Excel have his Pivot Table, and OpenOffice his Data Pilot (IMHO OpenOffice Data Pilot sucks compared to the "other", i don't know if OO Pivot Table is too slow because of Java or why.).
But that functionality isn't available in KSpread, would KSpread have this functionality?
By Alex Medina at Sat, 2008/09/27 - 5:00am
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Structure/activity Relationship of Thapsigargin Inhibition on the Purified Golgi/secretory Pathway Ca2+/Mn2+-Transport ATPase (SPCA1a)
Jialin, C., de Raeymaecker, J., Hovgaard, J. B., Smaardijk, S., Vandecaetsbeek, I., Wuytack, F., Møller, J. V., Eggermont, J., de Meyer, M., Christensen, Søren Brøgger & Vangheluwe, P., 2017, In : Journal of Biological Chemistry. 292, 17, p. 6938-6951 14 p.
Molecular Hybridization of Potent and Selective γ-Hydroxybutyric Acid (GHB) Ligands: Design, Synthesis, Binding Studies, and Molecular Modeling of Novel 3-Hydroxycyclopent-1-enecarboxylic Acid (HOCPCA) and trans-γ-Hydroxycrotonic Acid (T-HCA) Analogs
Krall, J., Jensen, C. H., Bavo, F., Falk-Petersen, Christina Birkedahl, Haugaard, A. S., Vogensen, S. B., Tian, Y., Nittegaard-Nielsen, M., Sigurdardóttir, S. B., Kehler, J., Kongstad, Kenneth Thermann, Gloriam, David E., Clausen, Rasmus Prætorius, Harpsøe, Kasper, Wellendorph, Petrine & Frølund, Bente, 2017, In : Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 60, 21, p. 9022-9039 18 p.
Lithostratigraphy, geology and geochemisttry of the volcanic rocks of the Vaigat Formation on Disko and Nuussuaq, Paleocene of West Greenland
Pedersen, Asger Ken, Larsen, L. M. & Pedersen, G. K., 2017, Copenhagen: The Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland. 244 p. (Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Bulletin (GEUS), Vol. 39).
Iminolactones as Tools for Inversion of the Absolute Configuration of alpha-Amino Acids and as Inhibitors of Cancer Cell Proliferation
Jensen, C. M., Chow, H., Chen, M., Zhai, L., Frydenvang, Karla Andrea, Liu, H., Franzyk, Henrik & Christensen, Søren Brøgger, 2016, In : European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 114, p. 118-133 16 p.
Basic characteristics and kinetics of degradation in aqueous buffer of selected diclofenac prodrugs intended for joint injection
Mertz, Nina, Larsen, Susan Weng & Larsen, C. S., 6 Apr 2016. 1 p.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Poster › Research › peer-review
Cytochrome P450 Mediated Drug Metabolism
Olsen, L., Jørgensen, Flemming Steen & Oostenbrink, C., 2016, New Horizons in Predictive Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics. Wilson, A. G. E. (ed.). Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry, p. 66-78 13 p. (RSC Drug Discovery, Vol. 49).
The potential of protein-nanomaterial interaction for advanced drug delivery
Peng, Q. & Mu, Huiling, 23 Jan 2016, In : Journal of Controlled Release. 225, p. 121-132 12 p.
Kolliphor surfactants affect solubilization and bioavailability of fenofibrate. Studies of in vitro digestion and absorption in rats.
Berthelsen, Ragna, Holm, R., Jacobsen, Jette, Kristensen, J., Abrahamsson, B. & Mullertz, Anette , 6 Apr 2015, In : Molecular Pharmaceutics. 12, 4, p. 1062-1071 10 p.
Thapsigargin, origin, chemistry, structure-activity relationships and prodrug development.
Doan, T. Q. N. & Christensen, Søren Brøgger, Oct 2015, In : Current Pharmaceutical Design. 21, 38, p. 5505-5517 13 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Review › Research › peer-review
Selecting key toxins for focused development of elapid snake antivenoms and inhibitors guided by a Toxicity Score
Laustsen, A. H. & Lohse, Brian, 15 Sep 2015, In : Toxicon. 104, p. 43-45 3 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter › Research › peer-review
Noter til Organisk Kemi for Biovidenskab: Organisk og bioorganisk kemi 2015
Nielsen, John, 9 Feb 2015, 25 p.
Research output: Other contribution › Education
The PPARalpha agonist, fenofibrate decreases levels of anorectic N-acylethanolamines in the small intestine of mice
Diep, T. A., Golbas, G. & Hansen, Harald S., 28 Jun 2014. 1 p.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Conference abstract for conference › Research
Investigations and design of pyridine-2-carboxylic acid thiazol-2-ylamide analogs as methionine aminopeptidase inhibitors using 3D-QSAR and molecular docking
Hauser, Alexander Sebastian, 1 Aug 2014, In : Medicinal Chemistry Research. 23, 8, p. 3861 3875 p.
Development and validation of an SPE methodology combined with LC-MS/MS for the determination of four ionophores in aqueous environmental matrices
Bak, S. A., Hansen, M., Krogh, K. A., Brandt, A., Halling-Sørensen, B. & Björklund, E., 25 Feb 2013, In : International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry. 93, 14, p. 1500-1512
Altered anziety/depression-like behaviours in mice deficient in tetrahydrobiopterin
Nasser, A., Birk Møller, L. & Andreasen T., Jesper, 13 Jan 2013.
Organ culture of C57BL/6 mouse arteries with LPS as an in vitro model of vascular inflammation
Outzen, E. M., Mehryar, R., Boonen, Harrie C.M., Nielsen, A. S. & Sheykhzade, Majid, 28 Aug 2013. 1 p.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Poster › Research
Lactate dehydrogenase assay for assessment of polycation cytotoxicity
Parhamifar, L., Andersen, H. & Moghimi, S. M., 2013, Nanotechnology for Nucleic Acid Delivery. Vol. 948. p. 13-22 10 p. (Methods in Molecular Biology).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Book chapter › Research
Exploring the solid-form landscape of pharmaceutical hydrates: transformation pathways of the sodium naproxen anhydrate-hydrate system
Raijada, D. K., Bond, Andrew, Larsen, F. H., Cornett, C., Qu, H. & Rantanen, J., Jan 2013, In : Pharmaceutical Research. 30, 1, p. 280-289 10 p.
Raijada, D. K., Bond, A., Larsen, F. H., Cornett, Claus, Qu, H. & Rantanen, Jukka, 2013, In : Pharmaceutical Research. 30, 1, p. 280-289 10 p.
Pollution Pathways of Pharmaceutical Residues in the Aquatic Environment on the Island of Mallorca, Spain
Rodríguez-Navas, C., Björklund, E., Bak, S. A., Hansen, M., Krogh, K. A., Maya, F., Forteza, R. & Cerdà, V., 2013, In : Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. 61, 1, p. 56-66
Liposomal temocene (m-THPPo) photodynamic treatment induces cell death by mitochondria-independent apoptosis
Soriano, J., Garcia-Diaz, M., Mora, M., Sagristá, M. L., Nonell, S., Villanueva, A., Stockert, J. C. & Cañete, M., 28 May 2013, In : BBA General Subjects. 1830, 10, p. 4611-4620 12 p.
Pattern-oriented Agent-based Monte Carlo simulation of Cellular Redox Environment
Tang, J., Holcombe, M. & Boonen, Harrie C.M., 28 Aug 2013. 1 p.
Prolonged naproxen joint residence time after intra-articular injection of lipophilic solutions comprising a naproxen glycolamide ester prodrug in the rat
Thing, M., Lu, Y., Agårdh, L., Larsen, C. S., Østergaard, Jesper, He, W., Wu, W., Larsen, F. & Larsen, Susan Weng, 15 Jul 2013, In : International Journal of Pharmaceutics. 451, 1-2, p. 34-40 7 p.
Strategic funding priorities in the pharmaceutical sciences allied to Quality by Design (QbD) and Process Analytical Technology (PAT)
Aksu, B., De Beer, T., Folestad, S., Ketolainen, J., Lindén, H., Lopes, J. A., de Matas, M., Oostra, W., Rantanen, Jukka & Weimer, M., 29 Sep 2012, In : European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. 47, 2, p. 402-405 4 p.
Håb om at ramme latente bakterier i deres skjul
Bahnsen, J. S., Water, J. J., Foged, Camilla, Franzyk, Henrik & Nielsen, Hanne Mørck, 2012, In : Lægemiddelforskning 2012. 2012, p. 12-14
Fast, selective, and sensitive analysis of low-abundance peptides in human plasma by electromembrane exctraction
Balchen, M., Lund, H., Reubsaet, L. & Pedersen-Bjergaard, Stig, 2012, In : Analytica Chimica Acta. 716, p. 16-23
In vitro efficacy testing of praziquantel, ivermectin, and oxfendazole against Taenia Solium cysts
Cederberg, S., Sikasunge, C. S., Andersson, Å. & Johansen, Maria Vang, 2012, In : Journal of Parasitology Research. 2012, 4 p.
Role of excipients on solid-state properties of piroxicam during processing
Christensen, N. P. A., Cornett, Claus & Rantanen, Jukka, 2012, In : Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. 101, 3, p. 1202-1211
Drugs for the neglected disease malaria based on natural products
Christensen, Søren Brøgger & Bygbjerg, Ib Christian, 2012, Bioactive compounds from natural sources: natural products as lead compounds in drug discovery. Tringali, C. (ed.). 2 ed. Boca Raton: CRC Press, p. 525-550
Concise synthesis of new bridged-nicotine analogues
Crestey, F., Hooyberghs, G. & Kristensen, Jesper Langgaard, 4 Feb 2012, In : Tetrahedron. 68, 5, p. 1417-1421
In vitro digestion testing of lipid-based delivery systems: calcium ions combine with fatty acids liberated from triglyceride rich lipid solutions to form soaps and reduce the solubilization capacity of colloidal digestion products
Devraj, R., Williams, H. D., Warren, D. B., Mullertz, Anette , Porter, C. J. H. & Pouton, C. W., 2012, In : International Journal of Pharmaceutics. 441, 1-2, p. 323-333
Multidisciplinary management of metastatic renal cell carcinoma in the era of targeted therapies
Escudier, B., Osanto, S., Ljungberg, B., Porta, C., Wagstaff, J., Mulders, P., Gore, M., Bex, A., Bellmunt, J., Bracarda, S., Franklin, A., Honoré, P. G. H., Ravaud, A., Stein, J. V., Aziz, Z. & Akaza, H., 2012, In : Cancer Treatment Reviews. 38, 2, p. 127-132 6 p.
License to kill: formulation requirements for optimal priming of CD8+ CTL responses with particulate vaccine delivery systems
Foged, Camilla, Hansen, J. & Agger, E. M., 2012, In : European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. 45, 4, p. 482-491
Estimating intestinal absorption of inorganic selenium compounds by in vitro flux and biotransformation studies in Caco-2 cells and ICP-MS detection
Gammelgaard, Bente, Møller, Laura Hyrup, Gabel-Jensen, C. & Steffansen, B., 2012, In : Biological Trace Element Research. 145, 2, p. 248-256
Human urinary excretion and metabolism of 82Se-enriched selenite and selenate determined by LC-ICP-MS
Gammelgaard, Bente, Stürup, Stefan & Christensen, M. V., 2012, In : Metallomics. 4, 2, p. 149-155
Volatile organic compounds in landfill ordorant emissions on the island of Mallorca
González, C. R., Björklund, E., Forteza, R. & Cerdà, V., 2012, In : International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry. 92, 12, p. 1-16, iFirst
Introduction to pharmaceutical chemical analysis
Hansen, S. H., Pedersen-Bjergaard, Stig & Rasmussen, K. E., 2012, Chichester: Wiley. 477 p.
Research output: Book/Report › Book › Education › peer-review
An electrochemical approach to protein adsorption at charged interfaces
Hartvig, R. A., 2012, København: Det Farmaceutiske Fakultet. 127 p.
Formation of dielectric layers and charge regulation in protein adsorption at biomimetic interfaces
Hartvig, R. A., van de Weert, Marco, Østergaard, Jesper, Jørgensen, Lene & Jensen, Henrik, 2012, In : Langmuir. 28, 3, p. 1804-1815
Forced degradation of therapeutic proteins
Hawe, A., Wiggenhorn, M., van de Weert, Marco, Garbe, J. H. O., Mahler, H. & Jiskoot, W., 2012, In : Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. 101, 3, p. 895-913
Evaluation of the antibacterial activity of Chilean plants traditionally used for wound healing therapy against multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Holler, J. G., Søndergaard, K., Slotved, H., Gúzman, A. & Mølgaard, Per, Jan 2012, In : Planta Medica. 78, 2, p. 200-205
Using resin to generate a non-invasive intestinal bile-depleted rat model was unsuccessful
Holm, R., Hesselkilde, J. Z., Jørgensen, E. B. & Mullertz, Anette , 2012, In : European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. 47, p. 347-351
Design of an inhalable dry powder formulation of DOTAP-modified PLGA nanoparticles loaded with siRNA
Jensen, D. M. K., Jensen, L. B., Koocheki, S., Cun, D., Nielsen, Hanne Mørck, Foged, Camilla & Bengtson, L., 2012, In : Journal of Controlled Release. 157, 1, p. 141-148
Comparison of polymeric siRNA nanocarriers in murine LPS-activated macrophage cell line: Gene silencing, toxicity and off-target gene expression
Jensen, L. B., Griger, J., Naeye, B., Varkouhi, A. K., Raemdonck, K., Schiffelers, R., Lammers, T., Storm, G., Smedt, S. C. D., Sproat, B. S., Nielsen, Hanne Mørck & Foged, Camilla, 2012, In : Pharmaceutical Research. 29, p. 669-682
Interaction of peptidomimetics with bilayer membranes: biophysical characterization and cellular uptake
Jing, X., Kasimova, M. R., Simonsen, A. H., Jørgensen, Lene, Malmsten, M., Franzyk, Henrik & Foged, Camilla, 2012, In : Langmuir. 28, 11, p. 5167-5175
Quality assessment of Tulbaghia rhizomes
Jäger, A. & Stafford, G. I., Sep 2012, In : South African Journal of Botany. 82, p. 92-98 7 p.
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DuboisCountyHerald.com SATURDAY, JAN 18, 2020
Saturday Features
Jason Recker
Scott Saalman
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Raiders to attend to ‘unfinished business’
Photos by Traci Westcott/The Herald
Southridge's Joe LaGrange, center, coach Blake Broeker and Cort Gerber laugh and catch up before batting practice in the field house at the high school on Thursday.
By HENDRIX MAGLEY
hmagley@dcherald.com
It was the perfect setup.
After struggling for the first six innings of last year’s Indiana High School Athletic Association Class 2A state title game, the Southridge baseball team found themselves with the game-tying run just 90 feet away, with two outs and bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning.
The Raiders had two of their quickest runners on the bases and one of the team’s top hitters at the plate in outfielder Joe LaGrange. He sported a .330 batting average with 30 hits and 14 runs driven in.
After nearly being hit with a pitch that would’ve sent the tying run to the plate, LaGrange still had another chance. Unfortunately, the ball LaGrange hit was popped up to Boone Grove shortstop Tanner Barron — game over.
“I was devastated being the final out — I know that no game comes down to just one at-bat but I know how big of an at-bat that was,” said LaGrange, reminiscing about last year’s title game.
“That whole summer and throughout this past school year, I just thought about getting to re-do that at-bat. Now, we get a chance to redeem ourselves and finish the business we left on the table — I’m excited for that opportunity.”
The Southridge baseball team (22-8) has been on a roll throughout this postseason and for the second straight year, they’ll be playing in the Class 2A state title game. They’ll face Alexandria-Monroe (28-6) at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at Victory Field in Indianapolis.
Last season was a historic year for the Southridge baseball team as they won their first ever regional and semistate titles in school history.
But even after the extremely successful season, the Raiders couldn’t help but feel rather disappointed as they left Victory Field last season.
“Usually when you go to Indy, you’re supposed to leave proud and gratified from an awesome season. But we just left there with a sick feeling,” said senior outfielder Tucker Schank. “We were so close to the ultimate prize (last year). That’s why not even a week after we lost, we were right back working at it again.”
Not long after last year’s state title game, a motto quickly spread throughout the Southridge baseball program — “Unfinished Business.”
In fact, assistant coach Brian Craig had it printed on T-shirts that were passed out to the team after last season’s end-of-the-year banquet.
Southridge head coach Gene Mattingly noticed how determined the team was early in the winter and while the group had some struggles earlier in the season, he’s seeing things all start to come together at the most important time.
“Early in the winter, we put in a whole new offseason conditioning program. We’ve seen kids transform their movements to become more athletic and more explosive,” Mattingly said. “It took us a little while to kind of get in a groove and get going but we saw the commitment early. We knew it was in there.”
The Raiders had a stretch of some tough losses early in the year to strong programs, such as Castle and Martinsville as well as Pocket Athletic Conference rivals North Posey and Tecumseh.
The Southridge Raiders huddle during practice at the high school in Huntingburg on Thursday.
But after a few players-only meetings set up by the team’s three seniors — LaGrange, Schank and Patrick Sander — the leadership and the effect those guys had on the rest of the team became clear very fast.
“As a coaching staff, we can preach whatever we want and say what we think is right but until those guys do it, it’s not the team’s culture until they’re bought in,” Mattingly said. “We’ve had some ups and downs throughout the year and we’ve kind of leaned on those guys as a staff — they always set a good example.”
After graduating several key guys from last year’s group, including two IHSAA Mental Attitude Award Winners in Jayce Harter and Justin Lammers, the Raider seniors knew they had a big role this year.
And while all three of them are huge contributors with their play, perhaps their most important role to the team is their leadership.
“I’ve found myself staying really vocally involved even when I’m playing, I just want to keep everyone focused,” Schank said. “We have a lot of young guys and sometimes they just need that senior there to keep them motivated.”
Sander added: “I’m always trying to set a good example, especially for the underclassmen. Hopefully they’ll follow it for years to come and it’ll benefit the program as a whole.”
No matter what happens on Tuesday at Victory Field, the Raiders feel they’re well-prepared for whatever gets thrown their way.
It’s something they’ve been preparing for ever since the last out of last year’s title game and now, they get a chance to rewrite their story.
“Our primary goal is always just to win sectional, but I think getting back to state was always in the back of our mind,” LaGrange said. “We wanted to get back there and finish what we didn’t do last year. We were very determined from day one.”
Schank added: “We knew once spring rolled around that we’d start the grind up again en route to a state title. I’m not going to say we spoke it into existence since we knew we had such a talented team, but we definitely started to peak at the right time — this became a very foreseeable thing for us.”
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Kilauea’s June 27 Lava Flow
natural colorJPEG
natural colour - September 24, 2014TIFF
shortwave infraredJPEG
September 24, 2014TIFF
The June 27th lava flow—named for the day it began erupting from a vent on Kilauea’s Pu‘u ‘O’o crater—continues to move northeast through forests in Hawaii near the town of Pãhoa. The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 satellite captured these images of the flow on September 24, 2014. In the natural color image (top), lava flows appear gray. Vegetation is dark green.
The lower image shows the lava flows in false-color (combining shortwave infrared, near infrared, and green light). The hot surface of the flows radiate shortwave infrared light, which appears red. Light green indicates vegetation. Rocky lava flows—up to 50 years old, too young for significant regrowth of vegetation—are black. The flow was within 3.3 kilometers (2.1 miles) of Pãhoa when Landsat 8 acquired the images.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Caption by Adam Voiland.
Landsat 8 captured these images of lava moving through forests in Hawaii on September 24, 2014.
Heat Land Volcanoes Human Presence
NASA Earth Observatory Volcanic Activity at Kilauea. Accessed October 1, 2014.
Smithsonian Institution Global Volcanism Program) Kilauea. Accessed October 1, 2014.
U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (2014, October 1) Recent Kilauea Status Reports, Updates, and Information Releases. Accessed October 1, 2014.
U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (2014, October 1) Maps. Accessed October 1, 2014.
U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (2014, October 1) Photos and Videos. Accessed October 1, 2014.
Kilauea Lava Lingers Near Pahoa
Kilauea Lava Flows Encroach on Ohia Lehua Forest
Lava Flows on Kilauea
Kilauea Lava Flow Reaches Hawaiian Town
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English Language & Usage Meta
Can “already” be used after a simple past verb in American English?
A British colleague asked if these two sentences are grammatically acceptable in American English:
They found already high recognition in Europe and we wish to carry that further.
Furthermore, they will perform a Shostokovich cycle at London's Wigmore Hall, which they presented already in Chicago and New York.
He says that the "already" directly after the verb sounds off key in British English.
american-english british-english adverbs word-order
JSBձոգչ
Edward TanguayEdward Tanguay
To me, it seems that there is a big difference between these sentences, in that the first puts the adverb between the verb and the direct object, a clear no-no, while the second one does not. This isn't to say that the second one is completely acceptable, but the first one is definitely wrong. – Peter Shor Oct 27 '11 at 10:48
In BrEng, adverbs of time, like already, normally come (1) after the first auxiliary verb in a sentence (We have already been there), (2) after be as a finite verb (They are already here) and (3) before any other finite verb if there is no auxiliary verb in the sentence (We already knew that). There can be some variation, but both your examples would be unusual in BrEng. Both contain a finite verb with no auxiliary verb, so, in accordance with (3), we would expect They already found high recognition . . . and . . . which they already presented in Chicago and New York. Because BrEng prefers perfect aspect in these cases, the sentences would, in fact, probably occur, in accordance with (1), as They have already found high recognition . . . and . . . which they have already presented in Chicago and New York.
Barrie EnglandBarrie England
The question is asking about American English. – yoozer8 Oct 10 '11 at 20:42
Yeh, I know. Still . . . bit of background does no harm. – Barrie England Oct 10 '11 at 20:45
In general, I believe exactly the same rules apply for American English. We might be a little bit looser about exceptions. – Peter Shor Oct 11 '11 at 2:56
But not about preferring the past tense, perhaps. – Barrie England Oct 11 '11 at 6:25
@Barrie: no, I was talking about the placement of "already". – Peter Shor Oct 11 '11 at 14:31
It's a bit tricky. The first would sound strange to a native speaker, but the second would sound fine.
I think the distinction would have to do with the object of the verb. If it is present before the verb, then using "already" after the verb sounds okay (such as your second example). If it comes after the verb, then "already" should be used before the verb or after the entire object. The following two sentence sound natural and correct to me:
They [had/have] already found high recognition in Europe and we wish to carry that further.
They [had/have] found high recognition in Europe already, and we wish to carry that further.
Although as I wrote these two examples, I realized they sound a bit more natural with either "have" or "had", but not using have/had sounds fine as well.
This chart of adverb placement seems to explain it rather accurately.
yoozer8yoozer8
The first one sounds off key to me, as well. I believe the second one is saved by the fact that in "already in Chicago and New York", the phrase "in Chicago and New York" is in some sense limiting the scope of "already". So if you change the first one to:
They are widely recognized already in Europe and we wish to carry that further,
it sounds much better. And if you change the second one to:
*Furthermore, they will perform a Shostokovich cycle at London's Wigmore Hall, which they presented already before a packed audience,
it now sounds off-key as well.
Peter Shor Peter Shor
Yes, it can, but it generally doesn't.
It seems to do best in sentences that are quite short - essentially, subject, verb + already. (Adding phrases before the core sentence is possible, but following the word already, the only real sensible expansion comes with a conjunction and a new sentence.)
Some examples where already occurs immediately after the verb:
He left already.
I showered already.
They ate already.
It may simply be that in sentences so short, the order doesn't matter, or the different placement of already is simply less jarring. But such forms are certainly in use in American English today.
In your two examples, however, I think the present perfect tense is really what you want to be using, not the past.
They have already found recognition or They have found recognition already would be good options for your first sentence. This tense better expresses that the recognition is ongoing; the simple past tense makes it sound as if they found recognition at some point and subsequently lost it.
As to #2, sentences in American English tend not to jump from the future to the past in one go - the present perfect is a better choice here, too. They have already presented, thus, would fit better.
It may also be that you're accustomed to seeing already after a past-tense verb when it's being used as a modifier. For instance, That report was presented already or Though new, the dress was badly stained already. (Truthfully, I think the fact that this word order - "presented already..." - is one we're accustomed to hearing in this context is the reason your example #2 sounds less off than #1.)
In general, though, in American English, already comes a) between have/had and the verb or b) prior to the past-tense verb or c) at the head or tail of the sentence.
The reason #2 sounds less off than #1 is that the adverb comes between the verb and the direct object in #1. Consider "they presented already this Shostokovich cycle in Chicago and New York." – Peter Shor Oct 29 '11 at 12:59
As a general rule, the adverb should come close to the thing it's modifying. Beyond that, choosing the most appropriate placement can be difficult.
This page gives some recommendations on adverb placement depending on the type of adverb and what it's telling us.
This one recommends that adverbs be placed before an action verb and after a linking verb. It is not necessarily incorrect to do otherwise, but it can sure sound awkward.
Regarding the two specific sentences you asked about:
They already found high recognition in Europe... (best - appears before the action verb and close to found, which is what it's modifying.)
They found high recognition in Europe already... (correct, but inferior to the previous one unless you consider "in Europe" to be the thing it's modifying)
They found already high recognition in Europe... (incorrect - adverb is between the verb and object)
Already they found high recognition in Europe... (incorrect - awkward and far from what it's modifying)
The other sentence:
which they already presented in Chicago and New York. (best, appears before 'presented' and close to it)
which they presented already in Chicago and New York. (correct)
which they presented in Chicago and New York already. (correct, but far from 'presented' so not as good as the others)
LynnLynn
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“I have already [seen]” vs “I already [saw]”
Positioning of adverb phrases
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English Light Novels
Light Novels Translated and Published in English
List of Light Novels
Light Novel Recommendations for Beginners
November 7, 2016 · by Cho · in Feature. ·
Lots of light novels
“I am new to light novels. What should I read first?”
Cho: This is a question I often see asked online, so I thought to gather some of the internet’s top light novel bloggers and see if we could come up with a “beginner’s guide” to light novels.
Light novels encompass many different genres of storytelling–so whether you like fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, drama, comedy, romance, or horror–there is probably something out there for you. Though the number of light novels available in English is limited, at this point there is a large enough selection available that I think a list like this is warranted! So without further ado, let’s take a look (in no particular order) at ten light novels releasing in English that we think are worth checking out…
Justus R. Stone: Sword Art Online begins with a fully immersive game where players become trapped, and to die in-game means dying in real life! The ongoing series deals with the fallout from the incident, including the types of games that develop afterward, and the fate of the game’s survivors.
A light novel series easily accessible by gamers and fans of action or sci-fi. It has been adapted into anime and manga, and recently a North American television series has been announced. For existing fans of the anime, the novels have improved characterization and some minor events skipped by the anime, but the bulk of the stories from the first eight novels were covered. Volume nine begins Sword Art‘s longest, and many fans say best, storyline. That volume will be released in December 2016 in the English market. Also, if you find yourself wishing the story had covered the first Aincrad arc in greater detail, you can see Reki Kawahara’s sister series Sword Art Online: Progressive.
Frog-kun: It’s not often that Hollywood makes a film out of a light novel! All You Need Is Kill is the basis for the 2014 hit movie Edge of Tomorrow, starring Tom Cruise. Except for a few names and the basic premise, the book tells a very different story from the film, and is well worth a read in its own right for its deeper exploration of the setting. The translation by Joseph Reeder brings out the gritty flavor of the novel and is generally well-paced and easy to read. Recommended for fans of fast-paced action stories and “time loop” fiction. Despite the video game-like premise, the story itself is light on anime tropes, making it one of the most generally accessible light novels readily available in English.
My Youth Romantic Comedy is Wrong, As I Expected
August Hail: I can firmly say that if you are looking for a standard high school romantic comedy filled with all the antics the genre contains, you won’t find it here. Instead, you’ll find a great series full of well-thought-out individuals with relatable personalities.
Every one of the characters introduced in the story brings up a typical teenage dilemma. From observing social cliques, to trying to find friends and hoping social groups will accept you, these individuals create a deep layer of authenticity as readers will be able to recognize or identify with these familiar personalities. My Youth Romantic Comedy presents a realistic representation of teenage life rather than a glorified picture of high school adventures, and its characters accurately reflect these messages.
Melody: While still rooted in light novel and anime clichés, The Devil is A Part-Timer! is a hectic and fun ride through the hijinks of a daily life seen through the eyes of a not-so-typical character.
It mixes an almost genuine representation of the lows and highs of just getting by on a minimum wage with the antics of being chased around by diabolical (or sacred) entities. It uses traditional writing combined with referential humor more targeted at occidental audiences than you might expect, making it pretty refreshing compared to other referential titles. An amusing read for anyone interested in unusual stories and just plain old fun.
(pictured: Book Girl)
Sean: The premise of Book Girl by Mizuki Nomura is supposedly about a young man, Konoha Inoue, who tries to quietly get through the rest of his high school days while recovering from a past trauma. He falls in with a young girl who eats books, Tohko Amano. But really, Book Girl is about the difficulty of moving past traumatic events, and how grieving and accepting things is both cathartic and also sometimes tragic. No one in this series is without their hidden depths, and the small cast are all excellent. But really, even beyond that, Book Girl is about a love of literature, both Western and Japanese, and the plots and settings of various famous books work their way through the novels. A series to curl up with in a corner of your library.
Justus R. Stone: High school student Koyomi Araragi finds himself drawn into the world of paranormal activity after being attacked by a vampire. The ongoing series of Monogatari deals with Koyomi’s attempts to help others he discovers who have been affected by spirits, curses, and monsters.
The series will appeal to fans of horror or urban fantasy. The first volume officially available in English, Kizumonogatari, is a vampire tale most Western audiences will find easily accessible. The mythology the series presents feels familiar, but also surprises with unique ideas blending Western monsters and spirits with entities drawn from Japanese folktales and legends. Even more than the story, readers will find themselves drawn in by the writing. The author, Nisioisin, is known for his play on words, engaging dialogue, and interesting characters who refreshingly play against common archetypes.
Frog-kun: A perennial favorite among light novel fans, Spice and Wolf tells a surprisingly engrossing story about medieval economics. The author Isuna Hasekura is able to present even the most eclectic subjects in a light-hearted and engaging manner. Much of the appeal of the story, however, lies in the charming interactions between the traveling merchant Lawrence and the wolf deity he meets, named Holo. Recommended for any readers who enjoy character-driven narratives and slow-paced romances. Yen Press has also recently announced that they will be releasing the series in ebook format, so now may be a good time to pick up this series and give it a try.
August Hail: Is it Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? or DanMachi is a series that grows on you. Despite the premise being firmly rooted in the harem fantasy and action-adventure genre, Bell Cranel’s growth as an adventurer followed by the diverse cast of characters make the novels worth investing in.
While Bell’s determination to become stronger can move the story along, the real content comes from his companions that influence him. The relationships DanMachi creates have a level of intimacy that holds a lot of meaning, whether it’s a deep heart-to-heart conversation or a valiant act of saving someone. The action is also nothing short either. The battles have a fast-paced and reactive style that helps keep the pace of scenes. They also become a very good tie-in for the emotional moments that the stories lead up to. Overall, DanMachi is a well-balanced light novel series that only gets better as you read along.
Melody: Need a big scare? Another is the book for you! Using classical horror storytelling, it instills a sense of dread and keeps you entertained until you feel helpless in front of all the horrible things you could ever read in a light novel. It uses mundane settings in order to make the crawling horror more insidious, creating a one-of-a-kind atmosphere that creeps in on you. It shocks and dramatizes but still attracts. While the full story is a bit short, it stays good enough to work on any person reading it.
If you’re a fan of horror/thriller novels, then Another is an absolute. Even if you’re not too into horror, the book is well-written and feels creepy enough to assure you nightmares for the next few nights.
Sean: Most people are more familiar with Ryogho Narita’s other major series, Durarara!!. But Baccano! (which takes place in the same universe) came first, and has many of the same elements. Taking place over several time periods, Baccano! is about a group of immortals and how their lives intertwine with a prohibition-era gang in the 1930s. There is no one main character, but the heart of the series are Isaac and Miria, two thieves whose naivete and stupidity would be irritating were they not so lovable, heartwarming, and hilarious. The joy of Baccano! is seeing how various seemingly unconnected plots all intertwine by the end of each book, and watching a number of morally ambiguous characters live life to the fullest. Baccano! means “commotion,” and it’s the best kind.
Other light novels
Cho: If you wish to keep browsing, feel free to peruse the “catalog” of what’s available in English. I try to keep that list up-to-date, so you can check back regularly as new releases come out.
The majority of light novels in English are currently being released by Yen Press (via their imprint Yen On). Along with many of the titles shared above, anime and manga fans may quickly recognize big names such as Re:Zero, A Certain Magical Index, and The Irregular at Magic High School. They have released some lesser-known titles as well though, such as Kagerou Daze (an urban fantasy based on Vocaloid songs), The Isolator (a sci-fi drama by Reki Kawahara, the Sword Art Online author) and Kieli (a completed fantasy/sci-fi romance series).
Vertical is currently bringing us Nisio Isin’s Monogatari novels, and will be releasing the first volume of the author’s mystery series Zaregoto soon too. They have also been coming out with tie-in novels for franchises such as Seraph of the End and Attack on Titan.
Viz Media is also releasing tie-in novels (Naruto, Tokyo Ghoul). Also from Viz Media, you can find many novels from Japan under their Haikasoru label (which specializes in sci-fi and dark fantasy). If you want a good space opera, be sure to try the classic series Legend of the Galactic Heroes.
Smaller publishers are taking a stab at translating light novels into English as well, such as One Peace Books with their releases of The Rising of the Shield Hero, a “trapped in a fantasy world” series. For a couple takes on that premise geared more toward women, there’s My Favorite Song and The Violet Knight, being published as ebooks by Cross Infinite World. And if you are interested in reading more ebooks, you’ll want to take a look at J-Novel Club, currently coming out with titles such as Occultic;Nine, My Little Sister Can Read Kanji, and Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash.
If any of you have a light novel that quickly comes to mind when asked what a newcomer should try reading, go ahead and leave a comment here! And if you’re a newcomer looking for something to read, don’t hesitate to ask for suggestions, if there’s a more specific kind of story you’re looking for… Someone may suggest your new favorite book!
Tags: All You Need is Kill, Another, Baccano, Book Girl, Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Monogatari, My Youth Romantic Comedy is Wrong as I Expected, Spice and Wolf, Sword Art Online, The Devil is a Part-Timer
← Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria
Review: Zaregoto – The Kubishime Romanticist →
25 responses to “Light Novel Recommendations for Beginners”
erictbar November 7, 2016 at 3:47 pm · · Reply →
Great list! Not sure if starting off with satire is a good or bad idea for a beginner, but “My Little Sister Can Read Kanji” on J-Novel club is hilarious and doesn’t hesitate to make fun of where much of literature (and to a lesser extent, anime and manga) might be headed. I look forward to new releases every week.
Thought it was weird when you said Seven Deadly Sins was being licensed by Viz. It’s from Vertical: https://englishlightnovels.com/2016/08/17/seven-deadly-sins-novel-licensed/ Wish it was Viz though, would almost guarantee an ebook release :|
Cho November 8, 2016 at 7:08 am · · Reply →
Good catch on Seven Deadly Sins, thanks.
My Little Sister Can Read Kanji is probably a bit much for a beginner to light novels, unless the reader is already familiar with its associated tropes (e.g. via anime or manga). Glad you’re enjoying it though!
katanka November 7, 2016 at 3:57 pm · · Reply →
Spice and Wolf for me is the worst choice for a beginner. Economic, maybe easy, blow minds. Many times i had read about what people reccomends, because S&W is too hard for them.
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Laga November 8, 2016 at 12:08 pm · · Reply →
spice and wolf 16 volume is so much for a beginner … for a beginner i will recommend some thing small but great ….
Patrick Ryan Watkins November 17, 2016 at 2:56 pm · · Reply →
i would say it doesn’t need to be short to be enjoyed as long as it catches your attention.
Lazarinth November 15, 2016 at 4:55 am · · Reply →
All you need is kill is a great beginner LN, I’d recommend it for non-anime watchers.
Cho November 17, 2016 at 11:55 am · · Reply →
Agreed, I think it’s a great one to suggest for anyone interested in action and sci-fi, even to friends who are entirely unfamiliar with anime or manga, etc.
Leafさんの夢が。。。 November 22, 2016 at 6:24 pm · · Reply →
Do you have any recommendations for Japanese Light Novels for girls?
Along with the Cross Infinite World titles (My Favorite Song and The Violet Knight), I would suggest Book Girl and Kieli the most.
A few shoujo tie-ins for Vampire Knight and Alice in the Country of Diamonds, etc are available too.
Perhaps a few other titles with crossover appeal to consider: Kagerou Daze, Durarara, and Devil is a Part-Timer.
Leafさんの夢が。。。 November 28, 2016 at 7:34 pm · ·
Thank you so much, Cho!
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shift case December 20, 2016 at 5:57 pm · · Reply →
overlord!!
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Nick February 9, 2017 at 6:47 pm · · Reply →
It’s swell that you developed a list that isn’t necessarily geared towards the anime crowd. I’ve been a long time fan of anime since before I knew what the heck anime is, but over the years my interest has kind of started to wane, to be honest and I’m hoping for more series that are light on the typical tropes associated with the genre. So, lists like this are always appreciated! I’ve already been exposed to a few of these already but I will look forward to perusing more.
Cho February 16, 2017 at 11:26 am · · Reply →
Thanks for the comment! I think most of these still incorporate some anime/manga tropes, but I do feel there are titles that are still approachable for readers who aren’t that into anime/manga.
Anonymous February 19, 2017 at 3:16 pm · · Reply →
I was a huge anime fan for the longest time. Eventually becoming a manga fan. I was also an avid reader of books. I always thought Light Novels seemed a bit childish. I can take manga (which are basically comics), but Light Novels seemed like children books to me; compared to the more intense and lengthy books I was more familiar with. I was wandering my local library and happened upon an interesting series called Vampire Hunter D. Being a big fan of sci-fi and the supernatural, I figured I’d give it a try. I didn’t realize it was a Light Novel at all until I looked up more about the series, and boy was I surprised. Reading Vampire Hunter D. completely changed my outlook on Light Novels. The books aren’t very long, but the text is small enough to make the book much longer than it actually is. For avid readers of longer and lengthy books with higher vocabulary, I would recommend Vampire Hunter D; especially if you are a Fantasy/Sci-fi fan, it will blow your mind.
Cho April 10, 2017 at 5:03 am · · Reply →
Thanks for sharing! I haven’t read Vampire Hunter D myself, but I know it has a its fans. This is one of those series that came out before the term light novel became common, so it may technically just be a work of genre fiction (or pulp) .
Aorii April 6, 2017 at 9:25 pm · · Reply →
Wow Cho, this is a really impressive list. You’ve covered a huge range of different reader preferences here. The only one I find missing is… no recommendation for the female-targeting LNs =P Sure, Book Girl is enjoyable for girls, but it’s really a seinen title with just the right romantic tone — though given the comparable lack of choices in translated, female LNs, I guess I can’t blame you either ^^
Thanks, Aorii! I think it will be interesting to perhaps make a new list in 2 or 3 years and see if the (hopefully) greater variety available produces a more compelling list.
Another commenter pointed out the lack of LNs in English for women — I suppose there just needs to be enough demand for them to warrant licensing. Looking at all the ups and downs that shoujo/josei manga have had overseas, it’s not hard to see why companies would hesitate. There aren’t really any big anime adaptations for such LNs these days, so maybe that’s what needs to happen first.
Wazamee April 18, 2017 at 6:49 pm · · Reply →
It would be better if your catalog had a picture for every light novel, I know that it would be a pain in the ass, but that motivates us and makes it easier for one to decide on which one we want to read, rather than, i.e judging a book by it’s cover.
Correction: rather than going through each LN which would take a long time. A picture would help one to judge a book by it’s cover. I know you shouldn’t do that, but it’s quite effective.
Cho April 19, 2017 at 5:41 am · ·
I’ve been considering ways to spice things up here. I may divide the catalog into a “current releases” section and a “past releases” section, and perhaps can include graphics of some kind for the newer stuff.
Stefanie What November 28, 2017 at 1:37 pm · · Reply →
I actually stumbled across this while looking for some “light” reading for Japanese practice ^^ I often feel overwhelmed in the bookstore by all the choices, so thanks for this list! I’ll be checking a few of these out.
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Air/Climate
Gov/Politics
Earthquakes Plunge Puerto Rico Into Darkness
Posted by News Editor in At Risk, Latest News, RSS on January 10, 2020 7:29 am / no comments
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, January 10, 2020 (ENS) – A 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck Puerto Rico early Tuesday, killing at least one person and leaving several others injured in the southern part of the Caribbean island, according to official reports.
Over the past several weeks, hundreds of small earthquakes have occurred in this same region. At least 300 homes were destroyed in the M 6.4 quake and 6.0 aftershock, the strongest to hit the island in 102 years. The only confirmed death is a 73-year-old man in the southern city of Ponce.
Earthquakes this week damaged this church in Guayanilla, Puerto Rico (Photo courtesy VOA)
On Friday, two-thirds of Puerto Rico is still without power, and a quarter of the island is without running water. The earthquakes destroyed Puerto Rico’s main generating facility, the Costa Sur plant, which, until Tuesday, supplied about a quarter of the island’s power.
Officials have said that power will not be restored to the island’s three million people until this weekend, and it will take a year to fix the Costa Sur plant.
Puerto Rico’s Governor Wanda Vázquez declared a state of emergency after the series of earthquakes struck the U.S. commonwealth. Vázquez, who also activated the National Guard, said at a news conference Tuesday that the earthquakes sparked power outages and cut off drinking water to 300,000 people across the island.
Early Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed a federal disaster declaration request.
Nearly 200 Puerto Rico National Guard members are assisting in the recovery efforts, many helping military police secure shelters, where some 2,000 people are staying. Maj. Gen. José J. Reyes, adjutant general of the Puerto Rico National Guard, said his engineers will be inspecting bridges for damage and deploying emergency teams and tactical vehicles.
Puerto Rico is still recovering from the disastrous effects of Hurricane Maria, a deadly Category 5 hurricane that devastated Dominica, St Croix, and Puerto Rico in September 2017. It killed at least 3,057 people and ripped out power lines and water supplies across the island.
Members of the Puerto Rico National Guard distribute drinking water after water services was knocked out by earthquakes this week. (Photo courtesy U.S. Army)
The location of Tuesday’s 6.4 magnitude quake is within 12 kilometers (7.4 miles) of a M 5.8 earthquake on January 6. Over the past several weeks, hundreds of small earthquakes have occurred in this same region, beginning with a M 4.7 earthquake late on December 28 and a M 5.0 event a few hours later.
Since the M 4.7 event, over 400 M 2+ earthquakes have occurred in this region, 11 of which were M 4+, including Tuesday’s M 6.4 event and the January 6th M 5.8. The proximity of these events to the island of Puerto Rico, and their shallow depth, mean that dozens of these events were felt on land.
A famous tourist landmark and one of Puerto Rico’s most beloved natural wonders collapsed Monday after the M 5.8 quake shook the island, Guaynilla Mayor Nelson Torres Yordan told reporters.
Punta Ventana, which translates as Window Point, was a stone arch shaped like a round window located in Guayanilla along the island’s southern coast. Monday’s M 5.8 earthquake destroyed the natural formation.
The UPRM Meteorological Laboratory shared a photo on Twitter of Punta Ventana before and after the earthquake, showing where the soaring arch once stood before its tragic collapse.
A colonial church constructed in 1841 also “totally collapsed,” during the earthquake, according to Yordan.
The strongest quake, the M 6.4 event which struck nine miles from Guayanilla, Puerto Rico on January 7 at 12:24 am, also shook other Caribbean islands: the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Saint Martin, Sint Maarten, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Caribbean Netherlands, Saint Barthélemy, Antigua and Barbuda, and Anguilla.
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2020. All rights reserved.
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Intestinal long-chain fatty acids act as a direct signal to modulate expression of the Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 type III secretion system
Yekaterina A. Golubeva, Jeremy R. Ellermeier, Jessica E Cott Chubiz, James M. Slauch
College of Medicine at Illinois
Carle Illinois College of Medicine
Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium uses the Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 (SPI1) type III secretion system (T3SS) to induce inflammatory diarrhea and bacterial uptake into intestinal epithelial cells. The expression of hilA, encoding the transcriptional activator of the T3SS structural genes, is directly controlled by three AraC-like regulators, HilD, HilC, and RtsA, each of which can activate hilD, hilC, rtsA, and hilA genes, forming a complex feed-forward regulatory loop. Expression of the SPI1 genes is tightly controlled by numerous regulatory inputs to ensure proper timing in production of the T3SS apparatus. Loss of FadD, an acyl coenzyme A (acyl-CoA) synthetase required for degradation of long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs), was known to decrease hilA expression. We show that free external LCFAs repress expression of hilA independently of FadD and the LCFA degradation pathway. Genetic and biochemical evidence suggests that LCFAs act directly to block primarily HilD activity. Further analyses show that in the absence of FadD, hilA expression is downregulated due to endogenous production of free LCFAs, which are excreted into the culture medium via TolC and then transported back into the bacterial cell via FadL. A fadL mutant is more virulent than the wild-type strain in mouse oral competition assays independently of LCFA degradation, showing that, in the host, dietary LCFAs serve as a signal for proper regulation of SPI1 expression, rather than an energy source. IMPORTANCE To cause disease, Salmonella must respond to diverse environmental cues to express its invasion machinery at the appropriate location in the host intestine. We show that host intestinal free long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs) affect Salmonella invasion by reducing expression of the SPI1 type III secretion system, acting primarily via the AraC-like activator HilD. Degradation of LCFAs is not required for this regulation, showing that free LCFAs serve as a cue to proper intestinal localization to invade host epithelial cells and not as a nutrient source.
Genomic Islands
Type III Secretion Systems
Coenzyme A Ligases
Salmonella enterica
Golubeva, Y. A., Ellermeier, J. R., Chubiz, J. E. C., & Slauch, J. M. (2016). Intestinal long-chain fatty acids act as a direct signal to modulate expression of the Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 type III secretion system. mBio, 7(1), [e02170-15]. https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.02170-15
Intestinal long-chain fatty acids act as a direct signal to modulate expression of the Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 type III secretion system. / Golubeva, Yekaterina A.; Ellermeier, Jeremy R.; Chubiz, Jessica E Cott; Slauch, James M.
In: mBio, Vol. 7, No. 1, e02170-15, 16.02.2016.
Golubeva, YA, Ellermeier, JR, Chubiz, JEC & Slauch, JM 2016, 'Intestinal long-chain fatty acids act as a direct signal to modulate expression of the Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 type III secretion system', mBio, vol. 7, no. 1, e02170-15. https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.02170-15
Golubeva YA, Ellermeier JR, Chubiz JEC, Slauch JM. Intestinal long-chain fatty acids act as a direct signal to modulate expression of the Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 type III secretion system. mBio. 2016 Feb 16;7(1). e02170-15. https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.02170-15
Golubeva, Yekaterina A. ; Ellermeier, Jeremy R. ; Chubiz, Jessica E Cott ; Slauch, James M. / Intestinal long-chain fatty acids act as a direct signal to modulate expression of the Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 type III secretion system. In: mBio. 2016 ; Vol. 7, No. 1.
@article{d53ea0b437d24f98b495ab4c4bcd045f,
title = "Intestinal long-chain fatty acids act as a direct signal to modulate expression of the Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 type III secretion system",
abstract = "Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium uses the Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 (SPI1) type III secretion system (T3SS) to induce inflammatory diarrhea and bacterial uptake into intestinal epithelial cells. The expression of hilA, encoding the transcriptional activator of the T3SS structural genes, is directly controlled by three AraC-like regulators, HilD, HilC, and RtsA, each of which can activate hilD, hilC, rtsA, and hilA genes, forming a complex feed-forward regulatory loop. Expression of the SPI1 genes is tightly controlled by numerous regulatory inputs to ensure proper timing in production of the T3SS apparatus. Loss of FadD, an acyl coenzyme A (acyl-CoA) synthetase required for degradation of long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs), was known to decrease hilA expression. We show that free external LCFAs repress expression of hilA independently of FadD and the LCFA degradation pathway. Genetic and biochemical evidence suggests that LCFAs act directly to block primarily HilD activity. Further analyses show that in the absence of FadD, hilA expression is downregulated due to endogenous production of free LCFAs, which are excreted into the culture medium via TolC and then transported back into the bacterial cell via FadL. A fadL mutant is more virulent than the wild-type strain in mouse oral competition assays independently of LCFA degradation, showing that, in the host, dietary LCFAs serve as a signal for proper regulation of SPI1 expression, rather than an energy source. IMPORTANCE To cause disease, Salmonella must respond to diverse environmental cues to express its invasion machinery at the appropriate location in the host intestine. We show that host intestinal free long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs) affect Salmonella invasion by reducing expression of the SPI1 type III secretion system, acting primarily via the AraC-like activator HilD. Degradation of LCFAs is not required for this regulation, showing that free LCFAs serve as a cue to proper intestinal localization to invade host epithelial cells and not as a nutrient source.",
author = "Golubeva, {Yekaterina A.} and Ellermeier, {Jeremy R.} and Chubiz, {Jessica E Cott} and Slauch, {James M.}",
doi = "10.1128/mBio.02170-15",
journal = "mBio",
T1 - Intestinal long-chain fatty acids act as a direct signal to modulate expression of the Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 type III secretion system
AU - Golubeva, Yekaterina A.
AU - Ellermeier, Jeremy R.
AU - Chubiz, Jessica E Cott
AU - Slauch, James M.
N2 - Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium uses the Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 (SPI1) type III secretion system (T3SS) to induce inflammatory diarrhea and bacterial uptake into intestinal epithelial cells. The expression of hilA, encoding the transcriptional activator of the T3SS structural genes, is directly controlled by three AraC-like regulators, HilD, HilC, and RtsA, each of which can activate hilD, hilC, rtsA, and hilA genes, forming a complex feed-forward regulatory loop. Expression of the SPI1 genes is tightly controlled by numerous regulatory inputs to ensure proper timing in production of the T3SS apparatus. Loss of FadD, an acyl coenzyme A (acyl-CoA) synthetase required for degradation of long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs), was known to decrease hilA expression. We show that free external LCFAs repress expression of hilA independently of FadD and the LCFA degradation pathway. Genetic and biochemical evidence suggests that LCFAs act directly to block primarily HilD activity. Further analyses show that in the absence of FadD, hilA expression is downregulated due to endogenous production of free LCFAs, which are excreted into the culture medium via TolC and then transported back into the bacterial cell via FadL. A fadL mutant is more virulent than the wild-type strain in mouse oral competition assays independently of LCFA degradation, showing that, in the host, dietary LCFAs serve as a signal for proper regulation of SPI1 expression, rather than an energy source. IMPORTANCE To cause disease, Salmonella must respond to diverse environmental cues to express its invasion machinery at the appropriate location in the host intestine. We show that host intestinal free long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs) affect Salmonella invasion by reducing expression of the SPI1 type III secretion system, acting primarily via the AraC-like activator HilD. Degradation of LCFAs is not required for this regulation, showing that free LCFAs serve as a cue to proper intestinal localization to invade host epithelial cells and not as a nutrient source.
AB - Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium uses the Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 (SPI1) type III secretion system (T3SS) to induce inflammatory diarrhea and bacterial uptake into intestinal epithelial cells. The expression of hilA, encoding the transcriptional activator of the T3SS structural genes, is directly controlled by three AraC-like regulators, HilD, HilC, and RtsA, each of which can activate hilD, hilC, rtsA, and hilA genes, forming a complex feed-forward regulatory loop. Expression of the SPI1 genes is tightly controlled by numerous regulatory inputs to ensure proper timing in production of the T3SS apparatus. Loss of FadD, an acyl coenzyme A (acyl-CoA) synthetase required for degradation of long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs), was known to decrease hilA expression. We show that free external LCFAs repress expression of hilA independently of FadD and the LCFA degradation pathway. Genetic and biochemical evidence suggests that LCFAs act directly to block primarily HilD activity. Further analyses show that in the absence of FadD, hilA expression is downregulated due to endogenous production of free LCFAs, which are excreted into the culture medium via TolC and then transported back into the bacterial cell via FadL. A fadL mutant is more virulent than the wild-type strain in mouse oral competition assays independently of LCFA degradation, showing that, in the host, dietary LCFAs serve as a signal for proper regulation of SPI1 expression, rather than an energy source. IMPORTANCE To cause disease, Salmonella must respond to diverse environmental cues to express its invasion machinery at the appropriate location in the host intestine. We show that host intestinal free long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs) affect Salmonella invasion by reducing expression of the SPI1 type III secretion system, acting primarily via the AraC-like activator HilD. Degradation of LCFAs is not required for this regulation, showing that free LCFAs serve as a cue to proper intestinal localization to invade host epithelial cells and not as a nutrient source.
U2 - 10.1128/mBio.02170-15
DO - 10.1128/mBio.02170-15
JO - mBio
JF - mBio
M1 - e02170-15
10.1128/mBio.02170-15
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About Katharyn E Boyer
katboyer@sfsu.edu
Boyer Lab web page
My research is focused on the ecology and restoration of coastal habitats, primarily salt marshes and seagrass beds. I am particularly interested in how species interact to structure their environments and influence fundamental ecosystem processes. Such basic ecological research has important implications for the restoration of damaged habitats. My more applied work includes comparisons of structure and functioning (e.g., trophic interactions, nutrient dynamics) of natural and restored habitats, and I work to develop restoration techniques and nutrient pollution indicators for estuarine and coastal waters. I work mainly with vascular plants, macroalgae, and invertebrates as well as the water and sediments in which they live. My work is mostly experimental, conducted in the field, or in greenhouse and outdoor mesocosm settings at the Romberg Tiburon Center for Environmental Studies, San Francisco State's marine and estuarine lab and teaching facility.
Selected Publications (22 of 34) ** = Boyer Lab graduate student
Archbald**, G. and K. E. Boyer. 2014, in press. Potential for spread of Algerian sea lavender (Limonium ramosissimum sbsp. provinciale) in tidal marshes. Invasive Plant Science and Management.
Archbald**, G. and K. E. Boyer. 2014. Distribution and invasion potential of Limonium ramosissimum sbsp. provinciale in San Francisco Estuary marshes. San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science 12(2).
Carr**, L. A. and K. E. Boyer. 2014. Variation at multiple trophic levels mediates a novel seagrass-grazer interaction. Marine Ecology Progress Series 508: 117–128.
Ort, B. S., C. S. Cohen, K. E. Boyer, L. K. Reynolds, S. M. Tam and S. Wyllie-Echeverria. 2014. Conservation of eelgrass (Zostera marina) genetic diversity in a mesocosm-based restoration experiment. PLOS One DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0089316
Powers, S. P. and K. E. Boyer. 2014. Marine Restoration Ecology. Ch. 22 in Bertness, M. D., J. P. Bruno, B. R. Silliman, and J. J. Stachowicz. Marine Community Ecology and Conservation, Sinauer.
Boyer, K. E. and W. J. Thornton**. 2012. Natural and Restored Tidal Marsh Communities. Chapter 17 (pp. 233-251) in A. Palaima, ed., Ecology, Conservation, and Restoration of Tidal Marshes: The San Francisco Estuary. University of California Press.
Reynolds, L. K., L. A. Carr**, and K. E. Boyer. 2012. A non-native amphipod consumes eelgrass inflorescences in San Francisco Bay. Marine Ecology Progress Series 451:107–118.
Ryan**, A. B. and K. E. Boyer. 2012. Nitrogen further promotes a dominant salt marsh plant in an increasingly saline environment. Journal of Plant Ecology 5:429-441.
Carr**, L. A., K. E. Boyer, and A. Brooks. 2011. Spatial patterns in epifaunal community structure in San Francisco Bay eelgrass (Zostera marina) beds. Marine Ecology 32:88-103.
Boyer, K. E. and A. P. Burdick**. 2010. Control of Lepidium latifolium (perennial pepperweed) and recovery of native plants in tidal marshes of the San Francisco Estuary. Wetlands Ecology and Management 18:731-743.
Boyer, K. E., J. S. Kertesz**, and J. F. Bruno. 2009. Biodiversity effects on productivity and stability of marine macroalgal communities: the role of environmental context. Oikos 118:1062-1072.
Huntington**, B. E. and K. E. Boyer. 2008. Evaluating patterns of nitrogen supply using macroalgal tissue content and stable isotopic signatures in Tomales Bay, CA. Environmental Bioindicators 3:180-192.
Bruno, J. F., K. E. Boyer, S. C. Lee, and J. E. Duffy. 2008. Relative and interactive effects of plant and grazer richness in a benthic marine community. Ecology 89:2518-2528.
Huntington**, B. E. and K. E. Boyer. 2008. Impacts of red macroalgal abundance (Gracilariopsis sp.) on eelgrass (Zostera marina) in Tomales Bay, California. Marine Ecology Progress Series 367:133-142.
Boyer, K. E., and P. Fong. 2005. Co-occurrence of habitat-modifying invertebrates: effects on structural and functional properties of a created salt marsh. Oecologia 143:619-628.
Boyer, K. E., and P. Fong. 2005. Macroalgal-mediated transfers of water column nitrogen to intertidal sediments and salt marsh plants. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 321:59-69.
Bruno, J. F., K. E. Boyer, J. E. Duffy, S. C. Lee, and J. S. Kertesz**. 2005. Relative effects of species identity and richness on primary production in benthic marine communities. Ecology Letters 8:1165-1174.
Boyer, K. E., P. Fong, A. R. Armitage, and R. A. Cohen. 2004. Elevated nutrient content of macroalgae increases rates of herbivory in coral, seagrass, and mangrove habitats. Coral Reefs 23:530-538.
Boyer, K. E., P. Fong, R. R. Vance, and R. F. Ambrose. 2001. Salicornia virginica in a southern California saltmarsh: seasonal patterns and a nutrient enrichment experiment. Wetlands 21:315-326.
Boyer, K. E. and J. B. Zedler. 1998. Effects of nitrogen additions on the vertical structure of a constructed cordgrass marsh. Ecological Applications 8:692-705.
Fong, P., K. E. Boyer, and J. B. Zedler. 1998. Developing an indicator of nutrient enrichment in coastal estuaries and lagoons using tissue nitrogen content of the opportunistic alga, Enteromorpha intestinalis (Link). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 231:63-79.
Boyer, K. E. and J. B. Zedler. 1996. Damage to cordgrass by scale insects in a constructed salt marsh: effects of nitrogen additions. Estuaries 19:1-12.
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Karen Grove
I have been primarily interested in unraveling the tectonic evolution of an area by studying sediments and geomorphic features. Since 1992, with the assistance of numerous undergraduate and graduate students, I have investigated the Quaternary history of the Point Reyes region, located about an hour north of San Francisco. In the San Andreas fault (SAF) valley we have used stratigraphic studies of estuarine and alluvial sediments, structural analyses and geologic mapping, data from subsurface oil and water wells, and a high-precision gravity survey to reconstruct the paleogeography of the SAF zone and to better understand the evolution of the fault system.
On the Point Reyes Peninsula, located west of the SAF, we have used marine terraces and analyses of geomorphic attributes to evaluate the role of contractional deformation and uplift in the region. We also used seismic data from the offshore zone to connect the on-land deformation with responsible faults, and to clarify the timing of Neogene deposition and deformation (see Brian Stozek's thesis below). We have also investigated the Merced Formation and its subsurface extensive in the southwestern region of San Francisco. We used lithologic logs, electric logs, well cuttings, and outcrop analyses to correlate stratigraphic units in the context of clarifying the role of the Serra (thrust) fault and the continuity of geologic units that act of subsurface aquifers and aquicludes.
Some of the research we have published, and some of my students' theses, are available below.
Grove et al., 2010, Accelerating and spatially-varying crustal uplift and its geomorphic expression, San Andreas Fault zone north of San Francisco, California: Tectonophysics 495, 256-268. (PDF)
Grove and Niemi, 2005, Late Quaternary deformation and slip rates in the northern San Andreas fault zone at Olema Valley, Marin County, California: Tectonophysics 401, 231-250. (PDF)
Grove and Niemi, 1999, The San Andreas fault zone near Point Reyes: late Quaternary deposition, deformation, and paleoseismology: California Division of Mines and Geology Special Publication 118, p. 100–110. (PDF)
Sojourner and Grove, 1997, Analysis of fault and fracture data from the San Andreas fault, Toms Point, Point Reyes, California, in Girty, G., Hanson, and Cooper, J.D., eds., Geology of the western Cordillera: perspectives from undergraduate research: Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM) Pacific Section Book 82, p. 57-64. (PDF)
Grove et al., 1995, , Stratigraphy and structure of the Late Pleistocene Olema Creek Formation, San Andreas fault zone north of San Francisco, California, in Sangines, E., Andersen, D., Buising, A., eds., Recent Geologic Studies in the San Francisco Bay Area: Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM) Pacific Section Book 76, p. 55-77. (PDF)
Grove, K., 1993, Latest Cretaceous basin formation within the Salinian terrane of west-central California: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 105, p. 447-463. (PDF)
MS THESES
Our work on the Colma Formation—MS thesis of Chimi Yi.
Yi, Chimi, 2005, Depositional and deformational history of the uppermost Merced and Colma Formations, southwest San Francisco: MS thesis, San Francisco State University. PDF of Yi thesis available here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bqkz5udd4m93tk2/AADWKjrXOhZwTG2gQdSP-YeOa?dl=0
Our work on the subsurface hydrology of the Pleistocene Merced Formation—MS thesis of Kristen Wood.
Wood, Kristen, 2008, Hydrologic characterization of the northern Westside Basin, San Francisco, California: MS thesis, San Francisco State University. PDF of Wood thesis with appendices is available here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4e5go92dw35s3w0/AAB_XCjC-HUDkhHSa61SiHVMa?dl=0
Our work on the Pleistocene Merced Formation—MS thesis of Terence McGuire.
McGuire, Terence, 2009, Stratigraphic investigation of the North Westside Basin of San Francisco and Northern San Mateo County: MS thesis, San Francisco State University. PDF of McGuire thesis, with plates and appendices, is available here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/sqnqbisybmjfpng/AAD3hDDnU3X_IBTvJius2Zlla?dl=0
Our work on the offshore geology west of the Point Reyes Peninsula—MS thesis of Brian Stozek.
Stozek, Brian, 2012, Geophysical evidence for Quaternary deformation within the offshore San Andreas fault system, Northern California: MS thesis, San Francisco State University. PDF of Stozek thesis is available here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/v1ndii4shmjsdf4/AACklA6bSYEq0nqwZ1FRkZzxa?dl=0
ARTICLES ABOUT OUR WORK PUBLISHED IN INTERSCI
2004 article (by Jeff Scattini) in the College of Science & Engineering Intersci magazine: Beach front property: the make-up of Point Reyes. (PDF)
2013 article (by Sara Kotcher) in the College of Science & Engineering Intersci magazine: Point Reyes fault: changing our Bay Area earthquake watch. (PDF)
Anne Marie Scherer (with GPS receiver) and Jerry Davis (professor in the SF State Geography Department) at Point Reyes where Annie was investigating marine terraces for her MS thesis.
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We chat with emerging interactive design wiz, MegaOptimus
by Alex Bigman
After just six months of participation on 99designs, Djordje Makovic (aka MegaOptimus) has bowled us over with his aptitude for interactive designs: games, apps and other products that entail a dynamic give-and-take with the user.
We spoke with him about how he transitioned from more conventional training to this exceptional skill set. Read on for our conversation.
Name: Djordje Markovic
99designs handle: MegaOptimus
Location: Novi Sad, Serbia
Specialty: App design
We always like to start with the question: what was the path that led you to 99designs?
From my childhood I had a huge passion for video games, and I was always curious about making them. But since I was good at drawing, I decided to follow the path of graphics instead of programming. I went to a specialized high school for graphic design and continued to study it later at Academy of Arts in Novi Sad.
All those years of graphic design, but I never actually liked it. I graduated as quickly as possible to escape the world of posters, business cards and other things I didn’t like. I tried working on a couple of projects on 99designs, but didn’t like it so I moved on.
For next three years I worked on various things, striving to return to my original dream: making interactive design—apps and games in specific.
And once you achieved that, you found your way back to working on such projects on 99designs?
You make it sound easy to just go out and acquire new, rather different skill sets. How do you do it?
I always pay attention on how things are made, so down the road I can try making them on my own. It’s a combination of technical knowledge, practice, observation, and overall artistic experience, which could be collectively called “a passion.”
When I don’t know how to do something, I take some time and learn it. The Internet is a blessing in this respect. I’m glad you like my work, but I expect it to be much better in future.
We also noticed that you have a very keen eye for color—your app designs are often very vibrant. What do you think is the role of color in design?
Actually, it surprises me that you say that, as I have always seen that as my biggest flaw! But, yes, I knew I had to work on that if I wanted to make nice apps. The role of color is very important here indeed. It calls attention to certain parts of an app, like notifications, buttons, etc., but it also brings out the character of the app.
RPG profile for learning App
What is your process for determining that character?
When I read a briefing, I put myself in user’s place to get a picture in my head: “What would I, as a user of xxx app, like?” Then I search for inspiration in some already existing apps to match the picture and work from that. I usually have about 10 screenshots of different apps, games, posters, logos, etc. open while making my own. But in the end, I usually end up making something completely different.
Where else do you find inspiration? Is there a lot going in your local city, Novi Sad?
I use a lot of apps and play a lot of games, but the major source of inspiration while working is Pinterest.
As for Novi Sad, it actually does have a decent amount of cultural events, but I have to say I rarely visit them. Just being honest, hehe.
What would you say are the most difficult or frustrating aspects of app design, and what are the most interesting or rewarding aspects?
This isn’t just a frustrating aspect of app design, but of all creative work: sometimes you just can’t make the magic happen. But that’s normal, and when it comes back, it’s really rewarding.
The big thing about apps and games that keeps me interested is that people actually use the design. Users literally interact with it, and this gives another level of challenge—to make it intuitive, simple, clean, catchy and fun so that the user will want to use it.
Tell us, what are your career aspirations now that you’ve found your niche?
I would really like to bring together a team of nice and fun people with whom to make inspiring apps, games and, who knows, maybe even more than that!
See more of MegaOptimus’ work here.
Alex Bigman
Alex contributes from New York City on topics ranging from branding and typography to the history of design.
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Amidst sale rumors, the WSOP will remain at Rio Casino in Las Vegas in 2020
Friday September 20, 2019 at 11:24 pm
World Series of Poker vice president of communications Seth Palansky confirmed that the 2020 WSOP is planned to take place at the Rio Casino and Convention Center in the summer of 2020 despite numerous rumors that Caesar's is selling the Rio and the WSOP would migrate to a new convention center off The Strip.
Rumors. Semantics. Tomatoe. Tomato. There's lots of holes in the desert. Apparently the 2020 World Series of Poker is a go at the Rio Casino and Convention Center in Las Vegas for the summer of 2020. And if you're really a nit for details, it's also scheduled for the Rio in 2021 according to Seth Palansky, the head of the WSOP Ministry of Propaganda.
"Can 100% confirm @WSOP will take place at the Rio in Las Vegas in 2020," Palanksy tweeted at @KevMath on Thursday.
Despite rumors that the debt-sullen Caesars put up several of their properties for sale, including the Rio Casino and Convention Center in Las Vegas, players can exhale knowing the World Series of Poker is scheduled at the Rio in 2020. Seth Palansky and the suits at the WSOP let the poker world know that the SHOW MUST GO ON.
For most of 2019, rumors indicated the Rio Casino will be sold to the highest bidder with the new owner(s) intending to implode the casino and convention center and build a new (INSERT: _____ baseball stadium/casino/train station/marijuana farm), then the glorious WSOP will shack up at Caesars new convention space on The Strip. Anyone heading to the 2019 WSOP had a weird feeling they'd be walking the long corridors for the final time.
But those RIP Rio rumors are just hot air because Palansky and company are still organizing the WSOP to be played out at the Rio Casino and Convention Center next summer regardless of rumors and innuendos.
Hey, let's not forget... poker is more sports entertainment than sports. And one of the golden rules of show business is "The show must go on"... not matter what. The folks running the WSOP are continuing business as usual until the chips finally fall where they may.
Will the train junta buy the Rio and implode it to make way for a futuristic transit center to accommodate a highspeed rail from Los Angeles?
Will the MLB people buy the Rio to knock it over and plant grass for a new baseball stadium to attract the Arizona Diamondback or Tampa Rays?
Or will west coast promoter AEG buy the Rio to tear it down and create their version of the MSG Sphere for a new state of the art music venue?
Or will Google or Apple snatch up the Rio and create a mega-campus and oasis for tech nerds?
Will Snoop Dogg and LeBron James buy the land and turn it into the largest marijuana grow on the planet?
"Frankly, KevMath, I don't give a damn!" shrugged off Seth Palansky to the emaciated derelict reporters clinging on for dear life and other poker media plebes.
The show must go on. Who gives a flying fart if it's the train people, or Silicon dorks, or old money scions slumming it in the sporting world? The WSOP will continue to dole out bracelets at the Rio this summer and next summer and probably the summer after that.
By chance the Rio is sold and the new owner decides to implode the sucker, they'll have to wait until all existing contracts and events are completed. If they send in the wrecking crew early, that's when the lawyers get involved and things get really ugly. Hell hath no fury than a couple of stiffs churning out $1,000/hour billable hours.
Big events like the Super Bowl or March Madness or a tour for the Rolling Stones takes years of preparation. Venues like the Hollywood Bowl or Madison Square Garden are booked years in advance to work around existing schedules.
Same goes for the World Series of Poker and other conventions in Las Vegas like the porn convention or RV and snowmobile show. The biggest sporting events like Super Bowl or March Madness have been planned out for several years... some even up to a decade. It's not easy to pull off a small gathering (like say 50 half-baked poker bloggers) let alone a major event like the most prestigious poker series in the universe.
It's a fine line between pulling off a successful event like Coachella or having it turn into a disaster like the Fyre Festival. If we learned anything from the 37 documentaries about Billy Shitbricks and the Fyre Festival fraud, it's that mega-event planning takes time, money, and attention to detail.
Bitch and moan all you want about the WSOP, but they got it dialed in. The WSOP has been one of the biggest money grabs in the short history of the poker industry since leaving dingy downtown for its home at the Rio since 2005.
Despite the ever-changing culture and political waters, the WSOP has still been on top for the last 15 years or so ever since the IRS locked the doors at the old Horseshoe in the early 2000s. At a time when PokerStars is saying goodbye to the PCA, the WSOP is still the biggest and maddest mofo on the block.
And it's not going anywhere.
Seth Palansky, WSOP Vice President of Corporate Communication
I've been here 12 years and there have always been rumors that the Rio is being sold. It doesn't matter. The Rio is our home and that's where we'll be. We're not looking to hold it elsewhere.
According to Palanksy's at-reply to @KevMath on Thursday, the WSOP will be at the Rio next summer.
"Can 100% confirm," tweeted @SethPalansky.
In an interview with CardPlayer, Palanaksy elaborated on the future of the World Series of Poker.
"In the convention business, you have to block out," explained Palansky. "We need 62 days blocked out to be able to hold the event. It's not easy to get 200,000 square feet of convention space. You need years in advance to do that."
Palansky also stated that they're locked in for the next two years.
"The convention space is booked years out. In fact, people should feel confident that the 2021 WSOP will be at the Rio as well."
For now, you can delete those RIP Rio obituaries. There's a party going on at the Rio next summer for the 51st running of the donks with cash and lots of bling up for grabs.
PokerStars LIVE: read the article
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What it means to be German
Recognise the potential
Germany is a country of immigration. Clinging to an out-dated and mythical understanding of what it means to be German not only adds grist to the right-wing populists′ mill, it also endangers social cohesion. By Andreas Bock
We live in a post-truth era. And not just since Donald Trump. Among the convictions of German conservatism that run contrary to the truth is the idea that Germany is not a country of immigration.
Germany, not a country of immigration? The plain facts tell a different story: in 2014, 16.4 million people in Germany claimed a migration history, a number that corresponds to 20.3 percent of the entire population. 9.2 million people with a migration history are Germans. Around two thirds (or 10.9 million) of people with a migration history living in Germany are first-generation migrants; a third (or 5.5 million) are people with a migration history in the second or third generation.
Anyone who mistrusts these figures may perhaps believe in the normative power of German soccer. In the 2014 World Cup, it was players like Jerome Boateng, Sami Khedira, Shkodran Mustafi and Mesut Ozil who ensured Germany's success. And in the current squad too, national coach Jogi Low counts on top performers with a migration background, on players such as Antonio Rudiger or Emre Can.
Germans can only be descended from Germans
Germany, not a country of immigration? This is not a fact, it is merely wishful thinking. It is the ideological construct – one that still wields power to this day – of a homogenous and hermetically sealed concept of the "German people" – which can only be accessed through birth.
Only since 1 January 2000, alongside the still primary law of descent (ius sanguines, literally.: blood right) has territorial law (ius soli, literally: right of the land) been applicable to the acquisition of German citizenship. Under the ius sanguines law, only those who are descended from German parents are German. This makes access to German citizenship and affiliation to the German nation exclusive. People with a migration history can never be Germans! They may acquire citizenship through formal channels – but this does not make them German, members of the German race.
High performers with an immigrant background: in the 2014 World Cup, it was players like Jerome Boateng, Sami Khedira, Shkodran Mustafi and Mesut Ozil who ensured Germany's success. And in the current squad too, national coach Jogi Low counts on top performers with a migration background, on players such as Antonio Rudiger or Emre Can
To the uninformed, this may appear antiquated and in view of the highly problematic and sinister history of the term "German people", it may even appear rather eerie. But it is precisely this hermetic, exclusive and discriminatory understanding of the state of being German that continues to exert an influence on politics and society to this day. On the one hand, it still creates tension and friction on the question of the social participation of people with a migration background and on the other, it keeps the right margin of the political spectrum fertile for feelings of resentment towards people with a migration background, towards foreigners and above all towards Muslims.
What does it mean to be German?
A Wikipedia search as to the national identity of the Germans, as to the prerequisites of being German, yields a positive surprise. "According to several studies, the majority of Germans themselves say that the most crucial criterion in being German is use of the German language." Irrespective of the fact that only one study is actually cited, upon closer examination of this very study it becomes apparent that the still potent understanding of being German is far more exclusive and closed-off than this quotation might hopefully suggest. The Wikipedia entry refers to the study "Deutschland – Post-Migrantisch I" (Germany – Post-Migration I) which Berlin's Humboldt University published in 2014 together with the Berlin Institute for Integration and Migration Research (BIM) 2014. The results of this study are both illuminating and telling.
All on one page
Germany and Islam: "Muslims are already German"Syrian refugee Nather Henafe Alali: Exile and integration: the double whammyThe refugee debate: What makes us German?Germany's headscarf ruling: What an imposition!
Integration in Germany, Islam in Germany, Migration, Migration in Germany, Multiculturalism, Muslim women, Muslims in the West
Book review: Pajand Soleymani's "Immer mit Zucker"
Bittersweet life
In her novel "Immer mit Zucker" Pajand Soleymani creates a surreal world of cinematic images, intellectual discussion and dreamlike transformation. An unusual reading experience ...More
Islam in Germany
Anna, a young woman seeking love and Allah
Elke Muller is fighting for her daughter Anna, who fell in love with a young Afghan and converted to Islam. The mother spoke to Esther Felden about feeling alienated and her fear ...More
Migration museum in Cologne
Recognising Germany's immigration society
There's not much to see yet, but it's clear that Cologne will be home to a new museum dedicated to migration. The government will provide funding to see the Central Museum of ...More
Imprisoned Turkish writer Ahmet Altan
Literature is more powerful than tyranny
Unable to travel to Munich to attend the presentation ceremony for his Geschwister-Scholl Prize, writer Ahmet Altan penned a message against hatred and nationalism from his prison ...More
Comments for this article: Recognise the potential
What it means to be German by Andreas Bock
What a great article! All respect to the author. Just the same thoughts have crossed my mind so often. It is high time an enlightened idea of "Germanness" is adopted in this, my country, of which I have been a citizen since 1998, and in which our children live. The outdated notions in people's minds here are so unfit for a civilized country and society. A debate should be started at the highest levels to discuss these primitive, embarrassing and offensive views that people often unthinkingly entertain in this country. Request the author warmly to contact me for further exchange on this topic: p_v_hassell@t-online.de
Palvasha von Hassell
Palvasha von Hassell07.04.2017 | 18:19 Uhr
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Ethaniel Cox
Evaluating Features in Classification of LoL Rank
Author Ethaniel CoxPublished on December 11, 2017 December 11, 2017 Leave a comment on Evaluating Features in Classification of LoL Rank
For this project, I have compared the effectiveness of various feature sets from League of Legends (LoL) game data in classification tasks. Data for individual LoL matches were scraped from the North American match history servers. A decision tree, k-nearest-neighbors model, and multi-layer perceptron neural network were each configured and tested on their ability to identify player ranks when presented with game data. I used 13 different feature sets with each classifier and compared the results. The neural network always outperformed the other two models and the best feature set was the creep score intervals, gold earned intervals, and vision ward placement/destruction. The worst feature set was the losing team’s KDA by itself.
League of Legends, created by Riot Games, is the most popular online game in the world with over 100 million active players each month (2016) and 27 million active players daily (2014)[2][3]. It places 2 teams of 5 players against each other in a consistent arena. Each match has the same exact rules and possibilities, which allows the results of the match to be mostly dependent on the skills and strategies of the team. To supplement this, League of Legends has instituted a 6-tier competitive ranking system that reflects the general skill of the players at each rank.
In my project, I tested the effectiveness of common artificial intelligence models on identifying these ranks when presented with specific matchs’ statistics and events. I chose to compare a decision tree, k-nearest-neighbors model, and multi-layer perceptron neural network. Evaluation of their effectiveness was done with a measure of how close to the actual rank each identification attempt was.
A decision tree is an AI model that classifies a target by making a series of logical evaluations, with each evaluation branching from the previous result. The height and complexity of this tree structure grows throughout training, and each decision function is made on characteristics and qualities of the input data [1].
A k-nearest-neighbors model plots training data into ℝn, where n dimensions are made from each entry in the input vector. When asked to classify a target, the data is also plotted and a distance function finds the k nearest points (the nearest neighbors). Using multiple neighbors prevents classification from being skewed by outlying data and anomalies. K is usually odd, which prevents a “tie” among binary classes, and can help prevent a tie in more complex classifiers if classes are mostly isolated [1].
A multi-layer perceptron neural network uses a data structure called a perceptron that is modeled after a human neuron to evaluate input data. These perceptrons are organized in layers, where inputs enter each perceptron function and an output is passed to the perceptrons of the next layer. Each input is weighted, and the learning algorithm adjusts these weights during training. The last layer of perceptrons is responsible for returning the classification [1].
Since each of these classifiers accepts a vector of data as its evaluation target, I selected a set of features from a typical League of Legends match and arranged them into a matrix.
In order to collect the data for the project, I wrote a scraping script using the Requests python library and a Riot Games API key. I had to conform to the limits imposed by Riot, and managing the timing of requests was important. The script would begin with a certain player and traverse their match history. In order to avoid having data skewed by the patterns of a particular player, the script would switch to a new player after 10 matches had been collected, or at random. A list of saved match IDs was held in memory to avoid wasting precious API calls. The scraping would tend to gravitate towards the middle ranks over time, and so I added an additional exception to the 10-matches per player rule for the highest ranks to be able to get an adequate sample. I also restarted the scraping process with 10 new player seeds at both the lowest rank and highest rank for increased variety. Ultimately, I collected approximately 6,500 match records.
The match data are in individual json files, and so I had to parse them into arrays compatible with scikit-learn. The NumPy library provided C-like arrays that were perfect for holding match features. From the available match stats, I calculated the following features:
Total minions killed
Total gold collected
Winning team’s longest killing spree
Kills per team
Assists per team
Deaths per team
Ratio of magic damage to physical damage per team
Number of vision wards placed per team
Number of vision wards destroyed per team
Total baron kills
Total dragon kills
Match length
After organizing the features, I had to assign a rank to each match data because the general rank is not included in the json data. To accomplish this, I simply took the average rank of the 10 players by assigning numeric values to the 6 unique ranks. Once features were assigned a rank, I split the data into training and testing data in a 2:1 ratio. The training and test data had to be scaled in order to work with the neural network, so I used the scikit-learn scalar tool to do so.
To implement each of the classification models, I chose to use the scikit-learn library. It provided a simple and well-documented solution for the training of a decision tree, nearest neighbor model, and neural network. However, it’s included classification accuracy report only presented the percentage of perfect classifications, and did not take into consideration “how wrong” the incorrect classifications were. To remedy this, I wrote a distance function that calculated how far from the correct answer each evaluation from the test set was (using the same numeric system to average the ranks).
I tested the three classifiers on the listed feature sets with each one including the match length feature and reported the average classification distance. The neural network consistently performed better than the k-nearest neighbors model which was consistently more accurate than the decision tree.
The best feature set for all three classifiers was the combination of creep score intervals, gold earned intervals, and vision ward placement/destruction. This combination yielded a neural network distance of 0.509. The worst feature set was the losing team KDA with a decision tree distance of 1.377.
Future work for this project would include continued collection of match data, testing with a variety of neural network configurations, and using folds in testing and training sets. Because of the bell curve rank distribution, the highest ranks were more difficult to collect samples for, and may have been underrepresented with only 123 Master/Challenger samples. Different neural network configurations may have been more ideal for each feature set, but I used a constant configuration that I determined to be best when working with the “Everything” feature set.
[1] Russell, S., & Norvig, P. (2010). Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach. Prentice Hall.
[2] Sherr, I. (2014). Player Tally for ‘League of Legends’ Surges. https://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/01/27/player-tally-for-league-of-legends-surges/.
[3] https://www.riotgames.com/our-games
Published on December 11, 2017 December 11, 2017 Author Ethaniel CoxCategories Artificial Intelligence
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Zalto glasses
Wine accessories from Zaltify
Discover Zalto
Zalto - that's why!
Zaltify
The story of Zalto
With no further introduction we want you to see this:
This is when artisanship becomes art! In this article we want to give you a further introduction to the Zalto-universe. Where does Zalto come from? Who created the beautiful Zalto glasses? How did the world receive these innovative and yet traditional glasses? These are the questions we will search in this article.
The roots of Zalto
The Zalto-family has for six generations created and developed exclusive mouth-blown glasses. With the most skilled glass-blowers and the best raw materials Zalto has always strived for perfection. Interestingly, the Zalto-family has its roots in Venice, which has had a great and visible impact on the production and development of the Zalto-glass.
The Venetian DNA
Venice has since the Middle Ages been a crucial player in the development of the mouth-blown glass. With the growth of Venice as a trade center and the conquest of Constantinople in 1204 the Venetian glassmakers continued to invent new techniques to create unique artistic artisanship. In the 14th and 15th Century thousands of glassmakers were sent to the ”island of glass art” Murano, where a competitive and enthusiastic spirit enhanced the glassmaking. Here the Venetian traditions flourished, and they became specialized in fancy glasswares. Moreover it is here the crystalline glass has its origins. To understand Zalto it is important to understand, that this were the traditions the Zalto-family derives from, which they continued to develop in their settlement in Austria.
A new millennium, a new world of glasses
After nearly 200 years of perfectioning the glass-blowing techniques in the quiet, Zalto reaches its historical peak in 2006 with the presentation of the current collection Denk’Art. In the beginning of the new millennium Zalto wanted to invent something extraordinary, something new, something the world never had seen before. Zalto developed the collection in the years from 2001 to 2004 in close cooperation with the Austrian priest and wine expert Hans Denk.
Alongside his work as a priest Hans Denk has for over 30 years studied and tasted wines, and he is known as one of the most inspirational and valued wine experts in the world. Together with the best wine farmers in Austria, Denk was one of the main architects behind the new Zalto collection. Denk instructed the glassmakers in the creation of each bowl to evoke all the proper qualities in the glass suitable for the type of wine, the glass is made for.
The birth of a new jewel
The inspirational horizons went literally high in the making of the Zalto glasses, since Denk for many years has been inspired of the effects of the tilt angles of the Earth. The aim was to invent a glass with an unseen shape, allowing the aromas and the taste of the wine to flourish fully. Knowing that the first contact with the glass is with the eyes, the aesthetic expression was an essential element in the creation of the glasses. Thin, delicate and light as a feather were the stylistic criteria, that should provide the wine experience with elegance, finesse and a certain balance in the hand while drinking of the glasses. The unique architecture of the glasses has the beneficial effect, that the alcohol seeks the bottom of the glass and allow the aromas to be the dominating element. After over 5 years of development, the Zalto Denk’Art collection finally reached the market in 2006.
Zalto surprises, impresses and adores the world
With passion, perfection and hundreds of years of mouth-blowing traditions a new star was born. With complete honesty: We love Zalto! And we are not the only ones. The Zalto glasses quickly attracted the attention of the world’s leading wine specialists, and impressive superlatives adorned the new Zalto collection:
"Quite Possibly the Greatest Wine Glass We'll Ever Drink From" - Adam Rapoport, bon appétit
"Zalto glassware is a cut above" - Victoria Moore, The Telegraph LUXURY
The Zalto Denk'Art collection has taken the world with admiration and surprise. Not only praised and adored by wine experts around the world, Zalto won in 2009 one the most comprehensive and independent glass tests of the world's finest wine glassware. Stern magazine of Germany organized this testing by inviting all of the most important and influencing glassware producers in the world to nominate their finest glasses, and furthermore they joined the professional judging jury. Moreover a panel of the finest wine sommeliers and wine loving non-professionals were a part of the jury. Blindfolded and equipped with gloves the jury tasted 3 wines out of 10 different glasses. The result was definitely the true breakthrough for Zalto: Zalto won in all 3 categories: "Riesling" where Zalto White Wine Glass won, "Burgundy" where Zalto Burgundy Glass won, and "Bordeaux" where Zalto Bordeaux Glass won. A huge achievement for Zalto that since the very creation of the Zalto glasses strived for one thing: To be the best wine glass in the world.
Join a future of better taste – join a world of Zalto
The Zalto glasses stand after hundreds of years of development through proud Austrian and Venetian traditions as one of the best and most respected glass collections in the world. Zalto is art. Zalto is great taste. Zalto is a whole universe of perfection, elegance and indulgence. It is for you, where only the best is good enough. Zalto allows you to discover new tastes, more depth and more nuances.
At Zaltify we want to share this passion for the Zalto glasses, and we want to invite you into the world of complete wine experience. We want to make it as easy and simple as possible for you to join a world of luxury, exclusivity – a world of Zalto.
Go to the Zalto glasses
Shipping, returns and payment
© 2020, Zaltify
English Dansk
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“No Passport Required” Screening & Discussion (Rescheduled) @ Don Bosco Senior Center
No Passport Required explores other cultures through the cuisine of America’s thriving immigrant communities. Watch selected scenes from the new season at this special screening. Danielle Lehman of Open Belly podcast will moderate a panel discussion with local chefs on their experiences as restauranteurs in their respective communities. Then, sample some of their favorite menu items and begin your own journey discovering other cultures right here in Kansas City.
Local support provided by 2020 Kansas City Restaurant Week presented by Sysco Kansas City, Open Belly podcast and Don Bosco Senior Center.
Categories: Community Cinema Special Events
“A Century of Change: The Negro Leagues Centennial” Screening @ Gem Theater
Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Negro National League. Join KCPT for a sneak peek screening of “A Century of Change: The Negro Leagues Centennial” in the historic 18th & Vine District where it all began. The film explores the league’s economic importance to the black community that thrived there and gave Kansas City its signature BBQ and Jazz. Hear the words of the Negro League Baseball Museum’s president, Bob Kendrick, as he describes championing the league and preserving its legacy. Authors Gary Ashwell and Larry Lester discuss the league’s importance in the national context. As Buck O’Neil said, “A lot about the game has changed, and thankfully, much of it is for the better.”
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Category Archives: Elections
Adrastos, Campaign Notes, Elections, Fog Of Scandal, Political Crack, Television, The Darnold, Twitter
Twitter is extra stupid this morning. It’s ablaze with a pitched battle between Sanders and Warren supporters with the former being particularly inflammatory. They seem to have forgotten CNN’s debate track record; they go for gotcha moments with gusto.
I used to watch CNN in the days of Bernie Shaw and Aaron Brown but it’s all about giant panels and loaded questions in the 21st Century. That’s why I skipped the debate and didn’t even DVR it. Enough already.
I like what Charlie Pierce had to say about this ridiculous flap:
…the Warren-Sanders business is going to be what people take away from Tuesday night. I have no idea what was said during the famous conversation about whether a woman can be elected president. But the response from the Sanders supporters, especially on the electric Twitter machine, has been so hysterically over the top—Responding with snake emojis? That’s only the oldest misogynistic smear of all time, going all the way back to Genesis.—that it does make me wonder whether or not there’s something in that campaign that attracts the Democratic equivalent of the incel boys. I hope it stops soon, but I doubt that it will.
It was inevitable that politics would break out between two candidates trying to be *the* candidate of the Democratic party’s portside. We’ve seen it before, and we’ll see it again. I see nothing in Bernie Sanders’ platform that would cause me NOT to vote for him in the general election. I’m a Warren supporter BUT the problem is not Bernie, it’s the Berners. Enough already.
We need a coalition, the proverbial big tent, to deliver a well-deserved comeuppance to Trump and his GOP lackeys. I think that Warren gets that. Hell, I think Senator Sanders gets that, but his supporters want to take over the Democratic party and burn it down. That’s nuts. We need all hands on-deck to beat Trump. He’s the real enemy, not moderate Democrats. Enough already.
The other thing that bugs the living shit out of me is that not enough people are talking about the Parnas files. It appears that an American ambassador was under surveillance approved by Crazy Rudy. The Impeached Insult Comedian might have okayed it There’s even a suggestion that Ambassador Yovanovitch’s life may have been in jeopardy. That’s a helluva lot more important than a he-said she-said squabble. Enough already.
People need to prioritize. The national house is on fire and the arsonist lives in the White House. I will vote for any Democratic candidate even one of the plutocrats, the unqualified Hoosier, or the former Veep who has lost his fastball. POTUS* may have authorized a hit on an American ambassador. That’s infinitely more important than what sort of pundit Bernie Sanders is and what Elizabeth Warren had to say about a private meeting. Enough already.
I’d like to paraphrase a classic 2016 post by Athenae, I’m Done With All Your Liz and Bernie Feelings, Internet. Enough already.
Johnny Mercer didn’t say anything about prioritizing in the song below, but we need to organize our thoughts and accentuate the positive. The last word goes to Dr. John:
Adrastos, Campaign Notes, Elections, Political Crack
2020 Candidates In A Word
I haven’t been as wrapped up in the 2020 presidential campaign as I usually am by this stage. Instead, I’ve been following the twists and turns of the impeachment inquiry. It’s hard not to. The national house is on fire and the arsonist lives in the White House. I hate to give that stupid evil fucker the attention he wants but it’s imperative that his malefactions be exposed whatever happens in the Senate.
I thought I’d dip my toe back in the campaign pond by giving my impressions of the candidates in one word. It won’t be easy for a writer who dubbed his Bayou Brief column 13th Ward Rambler. I like words and word play but sometimes you gotta keep it short; unlike this introduction. If I miss anyone, too fucking bad. I’m including some of the dearly departed candidates for shits and giggles.
Biden: Garrulous.
Sanders: Grouchy.
Warren: Brilliant.
Buttigieg: Unqualified.
Bloomberg: Plutocrat.
Booker: Warm.
Klobuchar: Smiley.
Steyer: Who?
Gabbard: Troll.
Castro: Impressive.
Patrick: Late.
Bennet: Eyebrows
Yang: Why?
Harris: Enigmatic.
Delaney: Bald.
O’Rourke: Gestural.
Williamson: Flaky.
Sestak: Huh?
Swalwell: Young.
Gillibrand: Blonde.
Trump: Asshole.
Weld: Patrician.
Walsh: Teabagger.
Sanford: Olé.
I realize that the columns are crooked but so is the Current Occupant. I did them manually without resort to a manual or a chap named Manuel:
The last word goes to Yes and The Beatles:
Adrastos, Elections, Fog Of Scandal, Political Crack, The Darnold
Impeachment: Where Do We Go From Here?
I’ve been in the weeds of the impeachment hearings the last two weeks. It’s time to pause, take a deep breath, and look at the big picture.
The post title poses a rhetorical question: where do we go from here? It beats the hell outta me. Anyone who makes confident assertions or predictions is running a fool’s errand, which could be called pulling a Sondland.
As of today, the House will impeach on a party-line vote. There are some key witnesses we’d all like to hear from: Pompeo, Bolton, and Mulvaney to name a few. Slugging this out in the courts looks like a Sondland aka fool’s errand. There is a possible alternative: witnesses can be called in the Senate and it would be up to Chief Justice Roberts. Josh Marshall has more about this at TPM.
As of today, the Senate will NOT vote to remove BUT the situation is more fluid than people believe. I think there are multiple Republican Senators willing to vote FOR at least one article of impeachment. But they’ll only do it if there are enough of them: five or more. Willard Mittbot Romney is the one to watch: he’s bulletproof in Utah and not on the ballot until 2024.
The reasons for any GOP removal votes will not be elevated ones. They won’t do it out of patriotism but out of self-preservation. In short, they’ll pull a Sondland if it looks like the GOP will be slaughtered at the ballot box in 2020. I suspect the Mittbot would like to be the Brigham Young of his party if electoral disaster looms.
A quick reminder that Republicans are 24% of registered voters. They cannot win without conservative leaning independents; many of whom are sick of Trump’s antics. Repeat after me: There’s gold in them thar suburbs.
The Turtle wants to preserve his majority as well as his own seat. Right now there are three GOP seats in serious jeopardy: Maine, Arizona, and Colorado. Georgia looks promising: when there are two Senate seats up in the same election, one party tends to win both. Doug Jones in Alabama is the most vulnerable Democrat by far but the prospect of a GOP donnybrook gives him a chance to hang on. Roy Moore, Jeff Sessions, and Donald Trump may give him a path to victory.
One overlooked possibility is Senate GOPers pressuring Trump to make up some cockamamie story and resign. It would have to be coupled with a threat of removal votes but it would serve their interests to get Trump to quit. Some say this is impossible: I disagree. Trump changes his mind on a daily basis about purt near everything.
I am opposed to impeaching Pence alongside Trump. He may deserve it but we should want someone tied to the Trump scandals to be the Republican nominee in 2020. Acting president Pelosi would only fuel GOP “coup” talk. It’s why Carl Albert wanted Jerry Ford confirmed quickly in 1974.
I have no idea which, if any, of these theories will play out in real life. One thing I know for sure is that the Insult Comedian’s fatal inability to STFU will continue to make things worse. Thanks, Donald
The last word goes to The Band:
Athenae, Elections, So Called Liberal Media
Name. The. Problem.
No, not racism. For once. Well, kind of racism. Gimme a sec here, Pete.
Do you wanna know something about partisanship? Partisanship is good. Partisanship is the whole reason we have a democracy. I have no interest in finding common ground with fucking Trump voters or with other assorted white supremacists. I have no interest in making sure those groups don’t feel demonized. I have no interest in making them feel COMFORTABLE when they have made so many Americans, and the world beyond, feel the precise opposite. I’m allowed to be angry at the state of things and I’m sure as hell allowed to loudly call out those responsible for it. I want to vehemently oppose those people, and guess what? I live in a country where I’m free to do that. I don’t like being told I’m out of line for doing so. So you’ll excuse me if I’m not exactly inspired by some South Bend pud who has no stomach for that fight, and doesn’t want me to have it either.
The usual caveats apply here: Pete is not remotely a problem in the way literally any Republican is, and would in fact probably be fine as president, and if he is our nominee I will enthusiastically vote and campaign for him because I’m not a fucking child.
But we are not having problems in this country because we are too partisan. We are not too divided. We do not hate each other too much. This isn’t about our feelings. This is about how we just got laid off and our parents got deported and our health insurance costs $5,000 a month to pay for nothing if we get hit by a bus and we can’t afford to work if we have kids and we can’t afford not to work if we have kids and when are you going to have kids already, you’re not getting any younger, and if you live in the country you’re a dumb hick and if you live in the city you’re a commie and oh, by the way, your street hasn’t been repaired since 1989 because we can’t afford it, vote to cut taxes again please.
Those problems are not “partisanship.” They’re not “division.”
We’ve been told so many times that our society is polarized because polarization just happened, probably because of our phones and social media, as if Facebook magically makes you mean and racist as opposed to exposing you to what your nice Aunt Jean-Marie really thinks. We hear this so many times from so many people we actually think it’s true.
It’s not true.
We’re “more polarized” because for once a whole hell of a lot more of us are being heard and the things we’re hearing about from our fellow Americans fucking suck and we’re feeling the urge to do something about it and the people in charge cannot have that.
So we hear about how bad it is to hear from so many people, about so many things they care about.
We hear that we’re so divided now. But we’ve always been divided and the problems we are having are not because of that that division. They’re because we’re being told any solution to the problem is beyond us and so all that’s left is to get madder and madder. When you let people tell you what’s wrong — and that’s over, cats and kittens, you can’t stop the signal — and then tell them to just, like, sit with that? Because we just, I dunno, can’t, or whatever, you wind up with the kind of rage that we’re seeing now.
And that rage frightens people. I get it, I’m a middle class white chick, I am likely first up against the wall, but my fear isn’t, you know, a thing I get to project on everybody else by telling them to sit down and shut up.
So the next time someone tells you the problem is we’re just too divided, ask them to articulate what that means, what that really means. And if they bring up some cable news asshole or Trump or someone speaking Spanish in the store, or sputter that this is just something everybody knows, then you’ll know you aren’t actually dealing with any kind of problem, and you don’t need to worry about their concerns.
Push on. We’ve got real things to do here. We have a limited amount of time on this planet and spending it worried that the cable news audience is upset is not, shall we say, a good use.
Adrastos, Bayou Brief, Diary, Elections, Gret Stet Politics, Political Crack
Gret Stet Goober Race Update
I’ve haven’t written much about the Louisiana Governor’s race here for a couple of reasons. First, my Gret Stet ramblings are on display at the Bayou Brief nowadays. Second, the race is depressing for a variety of reasons that I’ll describe below.
In 2015, I was enthusiastic about the candidacy of Blue Dog Democrat John Bel Edwards. Why? He was running against David Vitter who, while good for the satire biz, scared the shit out of me as a potential Gret Stet Goober. When Edwards won, he became a dragon slayer. I am still grateful for that.
Edwards’ record as Governor has been fairly good. He undid some of the damage done by Bobby Jindal to state government with Medicaid expansion being his greatest accomplishment.
As he approached re-election, Edwards has moved steadily to the right capped off by the horrible abortion bill he signed in May. Here’s what I said earlier this month about Edwards and reproductive rights at the Bayou Brief:
I voted for Edwards in 2015 knowing that he was anti-choice. If he was a no-exceptions right to lifer then, I did not want to know: he was the anti-Vitter. I assumed that such a basically decent man would have the same position as former Governor Blanco and other Blue Dogs. I was wrong. These are darker times and the so-called pro-life right believes they can realize their dream of reversing Roe in one fell swoop. Their dream is my nightmare.
In 2019, I am strictly a clothespin voter in the Governor’s race. Team Edwards is so terrified of Louisiana Trumpers that they’ve taken the Democratic base for granted. That hurt them in the primary: African American voter turnout was low. If they can’t fix that, Louisiana is in a fix.
The fix is Republican candidate Eddie Rispone. His platform consists of three words: Trump, Trump, Trump. He’s an ignorant rich dude who recites the same buzz words repeatedly: conservative, businessman, outsider, and his greatest hit, Trump, Trumpity, Trump.
Rispone is an insider posing as an outsider and a know-nothing posing as a know-it-all. In last night’s debate, he could not explain WHY he wants a constitutional convention. If elected, he will be the most ignorant Governor since singer-actor Jimmie Davis who is best known for buying and slapping his name on the song You Are My Sunshine as well as his staunch defense of segregation in the early Sixties.
The power behind Rispone is contractor Lane Grigsby who my Bayou Brief colleague Sue Lincoln dubbed The Great Grigsby. His goal seems to be to Trumpify, Kochify, and re-Jindalize state government. Rispone is his dim and sporadically genial front man.
Dr. A declined to watch last night’s Edwards-Rispone debate live and, as usual, she was right. I watched it later and found it depressing. The moderators sucked as did the candidates. It was Rispone’s only run-off debate and his performance was dismal. It was the battle of the unprepared vs. the overprepared, Governor Edwards who came off as a smug dick. It scares me that I like former Governor Mike Foster more than either of these bozos. And I never voted for the man that Clancy DuBos dubbed Governor Warbucks.
Eddie Rispone was so bad in the debate that he reminded me why I’m voting for Edwards. Both candidates suck but Rispone sucks harder. His best bet is to nationalize the race by making it about the Insult Comedian. The Governor’s best bet is to keep it local by making it about PBJ. It boils down to Trump vs. Jindal. Is it any wonder that I’m bummed out about this race?
Voting for the lesser of two evils is the adult thing to do but it’s not a helluva lot of fun. I’ll be glad when it’s over.
The last word goes to Wilco with a song that I’ll be singing on November 16th:
Adrastos, Campaign Notes, Elections, Political Crack, Television
Why I Didn’t Watch The CNN Debate
The Tweeter Tube was jam packed with complaints about last night’s Democratic presidential debate. Some were shocked that it was set up to maximize conflict and drama. I was not. It was one reason I did not watch.
For many years, CNN has packaged debates as if they were reality shows. Reality shows require conflict and drama to hold the audience’s interest. While that might be true of a debate as well, that’s not what the candidates are there for. Their goal is to get their message out. That’s hard to do when the moderators want the candidates to comment on the other guy’s message.
A three-hour long debate with twelve candidates is simply too long and overcrowded. It’s aimed at filling time on CNN, not informing the voters. It’s also cruel and unusual punishment to force candidates to go that long without a pee break.
I don’t know about you but I’m fine with never hearing from Andrew Yang, Tom Steyer, and Tulsi Gabbard again. The two rich guys have no chance of being nominated and the Congresscritter from Hawaii sounds like she’s planning to run as an independent apologist for the Assad regime. The other candidates are viable until they’re not. Someone else is bound to drop out some time soon.
The biggest problem I have with the MSM focus on debates is two-fold. First, they have nothing to with governing. Normal presidents make important decisions in conjunction with advisers and experts. Second, debates don’t matter in the long run. It’s more important whether a candidate has a strong message and a good organization in the early states. John Kerry and Hillary Clinton were dominant in their general election debates but lost.
I may watch the next time around but if Tulsi is there gabbing, in the immortal words of movie mogul Sam Goldwyn, “include me out.”
Everything is Racism & Sexism and Nobody Will Say It
Look at these fucking contortions:
Boston’s North Shore seems as if it should be prime Elizabeth Warren territory. It is home to working-class towns, and it’s a short drive from Warren’s own house.
But ever since she entered electoral politics in 2012, she has struggled on the North Shore. When she defeated Scott Brown, the Republican incumbent senator, that year, she lost in places like Haverhill, Peabody, Saugus and Methuen. Last year, when Warren won re-election easily, she performed worse in those towns than Maura Healey, the Democratic attorney general, who was also on the ballot.
As Warren has risen to the top of the presidential primary field, her North Shore struggles underscore the biggest question about her campaign: If she were the nominee, could she win back working-class voters who swung to Donald Trump in 2016?
I can’t imagine why. Maybe it’s because white people have been mainlining Fox News/Sensible Centrist heroin for two decades now and all they’ve learned is that Democrats want to raise Your Taxes so they can give Secret Great Welfare to undeserving minorities while poor white people get Bad Welfare which is No Help At All.
Let’s go to that notorious whisperer of the Average American Voter, fucking CHAIT:
I’ve argued before that Warren has an excellent overall agenda for combating wage stagnation and helping the working class, but that her support for mandatory Medicare and border decriminalization is a politically damaging mistake.
Jonathan Chait of New York magazine says that Warren’s policy positions are hurting her with swing voters. “She is a compelling orator with a sympathetic life story and a gift for explaining complex ideas in simple terms. Yet she has spent most of the last year positioning herself as if the general election will never happen,” Chait writes.
Warren’s policy positions. Are hurting her. With swing voters.
Well goddamn, if only she’d bake them some cookies and tell them a story! About her personal life! Stop saying things like “we should quit locking up children fleeing violence and persecution” and “maybe you shouldn’t go bankrupt if you get brain cancer,” Lizzie!
Mandatory Medicare. You absolute jackass.
Warren’s working-class issues also matter in the primary. The political journalist Ron Brownstein coined the terms “beer track” and “wine track” to describe two different parts of the Democratic electorate, and the beer candidate (Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Walter Mondale) usually beats the wine candidate (Bill Bradley, Paul Tsongas, Gary Hart). Barack Obama was the exception because he added black voters to the wine track.
No one wants to have a beer with some chick!
Obama added black voters to the wine track? It’s 2019 now. Everybody fucking drinks wine. This isn’t the 80s when American wine was garbage; even box wine is good now and this metaphor is goddamn embarrassing. Stop quoting people still masturbating to the catchphrase they invented 20 years ago.
Are we genuinely, in the age of Donald Trump, still doing this? If so, I’d like to trademark the Crackpipe Track, whereby we all vote for the candidate least likely to make us want to freebase until we go blind.
Right now, based solely on this opinion piece, that’s Warren.
“Liberal college whites are growing as a share of the Democratic electorate, and Warren, in particular, has shown the potential to become a very strong candidate among them, as demonstrated by the huge crowds she recently drew in the white-collar enclaves of Minneapolis and Seattle,” Brownstein writes for CNN. “But many party strategists remain dubious that Warren — or anyone else — can win by consolidating those voters alone if Biden maintains an edge with the party’s other two biggest blocks: blacks and blue-collar whites.”
Well, Lord knows the party strategists have NEVER been wrong about who was the most electable candidate, given that they were all in the tank for Hillz and she lost to a sentient bag of dogshit because they all missed the fact that this is a racist-ass country full of angry old people posting Facebook memes about pressing 1 for English.
This isn’t about Warren vs. Biden. I’ve said before and I’ll say until we’re done here that if Joey the Shark is our nominee I will vote for him and campaign for him and post pictures of him and B. Barry Bamz looking sexxxxxy on the trail because that’s kind of our thing and because I’m not a fucking child, I know what’s at stake here.
But this constant regurgitation of the conventional wisdom of the Clinton years and the conflation of “working” with “white” and the elevating of those voters over all other voters and the goddamn arsing chickenfried refusal to acknowledge voter suppression and Republican misinformation in order to make the case that somehow the Democrats just don’t manage to “connect” with Chait’s imaginary whiskey tango proto-voters down the trailer park makes me want to tear off my own head and eat it.
We have serious problems and there are, lest we forget, parts of the country goddamn underwater, and other parts where there are immigrant kids in cages, so you’ll pardon me for skipping the part where we ask all the Democrats what kind of cocktail they are.
Adrastos, Elections, Political Crack
Don’t Spike The Ball
The hot takes are flying about the Israeli election. I’m a Bibi-phobe in good standing but here’s a reminder that what we’ve seen thus far is an exit poll showing the opposition with a narrow lead. Israel has proportional representation and a multi-party system, which means a coalition must be built. Netanyahu is down but not out. He trailed Shimon Peres in the 1996 exit polls and won that election.
Josh Marshall knows a helluva lot more about Israeli politics than I do:
But there is an ocean of tears of Bibi-haters who put their faith in Israeli exit polls. We have seen repeated examples of narrow Likud defeats which overnight turned into narrow victories. This is definitely looking like a tough situation for Netanyahu. But I’ve been Charlie Brown and seen this football teed up far too many times to put much stock in these numbers…
Ever since exit polls showed John Kerry winning the 2004 presidential election, I haven’t put much stock in them. Hopefully, this one is right, but now is not the time to spike the ball. Just ask Charlie Brown:
INSTANT UPDATE: The votes are in and the opposition Blue and White has 32 seats and Bibi’s Likud 31. That will give Benny Gantz the first crack at forming a government BUT bad shit could still happen. What I said about spiking the ball still applies.
Adrastos, Campaign Notes, Elections, Fog Of Scandal, Political Crack
Mark Sanford Hikes The Appalachian Comeback Trail
It’s getting crowded and confused on the campaign trail. As the Democratic presidential field narrows, the Republican field expands. The latest entrant is former Palmetto State Governor and Congressman Mark Sanford. He’s best known for two things: an embarrassing sex scandal as Governor and losing a primary to a Trumper last year.
Sanford is challenging the Kaiser of Chaos from the right. Even though he voted for the Trump-Ryan tax scam, he’s running as a fiscal conservative. Perhaps he’ll branch out and discuss the other disasters wrought by Team Trump but right now Sanford is lost in the fog of scandal.
Exploding the budget deficit strikes me as one of the lesser Trump scandals. It’s what Republican presidents have done since Reagan: cut taxes, explode the deficit, then try to shred the social safety. Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was.
Sanford’s fellow former “Freedom Caucus” member, Justin Amash, has cited Trumpian gloating after Sanford’s defeat as a decisive factor in his departure from the GOP. The Insult Comedian is not a gracious winner.
A reminder of Sanford’s hilarious 2009 sex scandal. He went missing as Governor. While he was holed up in Argentina, his aides claimed that he was “hiking the Appalachian Trail.” He was exposed as a liar, resigned as Governor, was divorced by his wife, and married his Argentine lover. One would think the Insult Comedian would identify with a liar and a cheat but apparently not.
The lame Appalachian Trail excuse was in the news again the other day. Without a hint of irony or self-awareness, Trump has taken to mocking Sanford for it but he’s easily confused: the other day he called it the “Tallahassee Trail.” There is no such thing and anyone who hikes in Florida’s capital city in the summer is apt to get heat stroke. Holy trail mix-up, Batman.
If Sanford had a sense of humor, one of his campaign planks would be to save the Appalachian Trail from the Trump regime and the oil companies. It’s under attack and needs all the help it can get.
There are now three primary challengers to the Current Occupant: Sanford, the Other Joe Walsh, and Bill Weld. The more the merrier. If one of the cable networks schedules a GOP debate, it’s easy to imagine Trump impulsively deciding to participate thereby violating the iron clad rule that incumbent presidents do not debate intra-party challengers because it elevates them. His handlers would be wise to place him in a straitjacket so he won’t accept. It’s where he belongs anyway.
In other campaign news, the Democrats are debating on ABC tonight. I’m undecided as to whether I want to watch. I might have better things to do but if I don’t, I’ll file an instant analysis post.
That’s all, folks.
Jay Inslee Is Out, The Other Joe Walsh Is In
Regular readers will recall that I used this image of Harold Lloyd in Safety Last to count down the 2018 mid-terms. Tick tock, motherfuckers.
Since American democracy is hanging by a thread as long as President* Pennywise is in office, it seemed fitting to re-purpose it for 2020. Let’s take a look at the ins and outs of the presidential race.
OUTS: Jay Inslee exited the race with the same class, grace, and substance that he entered it. His focus on the crucial issue of climate change made a positive impact and prodded the leaders of the pack to respond. He was always my favorite among the no-hopers. I’m glad he’ll be running for re-election for Governor of Washington state.
Seth Moulton pulled out after I wrote the post title. His impact was minimal. It struck me as a vanity campaign, which like that of Tim Ryan was essentially an extended fuck you to Speaker Pelosi. He can return to the Hill to annoy Nancy Smash. My hunch is that he’ll be joined by Ryan sooner as opposed to later.
The presidential race knocked the former Governor of Colorado for a Hickenlooper so he exited. He just declared his candidacy to challenge the most vulnerable Senate GOPer, Corey Gardner, thereby morphing from a political minnow to a whale.
The last word of the segment goes to Stephen Stills and Manassas, which is in Virginia but the song is about Hickenlooper’s home state. Go figure:
INS: The Other Joe Walsh came to our attention as an unhinged Tea Party Republican. He served one term in the House before losing to Tammy Duckworth who is now the junior Senator from Illinois. Walsh is a strident opponent of Barack Obama turned strident opponent of Donald Trump. His twitter feed is highly entertaining.
The Other Joe Walsh is on the verge of entering the presidential race where he’ll join Bill Weld as a GOP no-hoper. I still think Weld will do fairly well in New Hampshire but I welcome anyone who’s willing take on Trump from the right. Thus far, the Never Trump Republicans have been all talk, no action.
I like what Slate’s Jim Newell wrote about the GOP “race” in The Surge:
Joe Walsh, Mark Sanford, Jeff Flake, John Kasich
Let’s get slaughtered and be legends.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we’re cheating by lumping four candidates together. But (a) the greatest trick the Surge ever pulled was convincing you there were rules, and (b) each of these four Republicans considering a primary challenge to President Donald Trump amounts to roughly ¼ of a legitimate presidential contender, so the math checks out. As the Washington Post reported this week, “the anti-Trump movement inside the Republican Party—long a political wasteland—is feeling new urgency to mount a credible opposition to Trump before it’s too late.” This “movement,” which appears to be the usual gang of Bill Kristol and a couple of his interns, has been displeased with the lack of enthusiasm out there for the existing Republican primary challenger, boring patrician Bill Weld, and is working the phones for a new candidate to also elicit zero enthusiasm. The idea is that only one of them should run to unify the anti-Trump conservatives. Much like Weld, though, this idea is boring and makes the primary challenge easier for Trump to ignore. All of them should get in, and there should be televised Republican primary debates, tempting Trump to participate.
The Insult Comedian loves shooting off his big fat bazoo and showing off his “very good brain” so that’s actually a possibility. Run, Republicans, run.
The last word goes to the Real Joe Walsh:
Adrastos, Bigotry, Elections, Film, The Darnold
President* Pennywise
Image by Michael F.
We recently watched the 2017 movie IT, which is based on the Stephen King novel. I wasn’t terribly familiar with that terrible tale except for the sinister clown Pennywise. I loved the movie and realized that it was remade for two possible reasons: the popularity of Stranger Things and the rise of Trumpism.
Pennywise the evil clown (is there any other kind?) thrives on fear. He gets stronger the more he fearmongers. It’s what emboldens him to get out of the gutter and come into the open. The Insult Comedian never leaves the gutter BUT he too thrives on fear. That’s why I mock him: he feeds off our fear and recoils from our scorn. President* Pennywise is a pussy. He should grab himself.
I don’t see Trump as a figure of fun even though he’s funny. What he’s doing to the country is not funny but he cuts a ridiculous figure as he wreaks havoc. At the risk of sounding like a Reader’s Digest feature, laughter is the best medicine against Trumpism. Their dear leader has no sense of humor unless the joke is on his enemies. That’s why one should laugh at him, not cower, especially when the laughter is provoked by his latest outrageous statement. Remember the Maddow Doctrine:
I seem to have missed the Insult Comedian’s exchange with California Governor Gavin Newsome during the 2018 campaign. Trump called Newsome a clown, here’s his tweeted response:
lol, hi @realDonaldTrump. 🤡
Interesting description coming from the guy who is literally locking up kids like Pennywise. pic.twitter.com/bt49kyGk9Z
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 21, 2018
SNAP.
Courage is what the resistance to Trumpism requires. I know that many are still traumatized by the 2016 election BUT remember that Democrats won the mid-term popular vote by 9 points. And Trump is running on the same issues that flopped in that campaign.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Trump’s only path to electoral college victory is to destroy his opponent and resort to massive electoral fraud. He will not win the popular vote and has a narrow path to winning the electoral college, particularly with the economy circling the bowl. He’ll try and blame the Fed or Democrats but the voters blame the Current Occupant for economic woes. It couldn’t happen to a “nicer” guy.
Trump’s opponents need to take a deep breath and keep fighting. Remember: this guy and his cretinous followers thrive on your fear just like Pennywise. It’s up to us to look at the big picture and not be pennywise and pound foolish. Laugh at him, mock him, but don’t let him spook you. Victory belongs to the brave at heart. President* Pennywise can fuck off back to Trump Tower in 2021.
The last word goes to Elvis Costello and the Attractions:
Adrastos, Elections, Fog Of History, Political Crack, R.I.P., Television
The Fog Of History: 1992
When Ross Perot died the other day there was a surge of hits on a post I wrote in 2015, Enough Already With The Perot-Trump Comparisons. Thanks, y’all.
I never voted for Ross Perot but he was much better person than Trump. Perot was a genuine self-made man who had “a very good brain.” Perot also knew his way around a folksy aphorism whereas Trump merely babbles and repeats himself; NO COLLUSION, NO COLLUSION, NO COLLUSION. Additionally, Perot gave freely of his time and money to a variety of good causes and we all know about the Insult Comedian’s stingy ways.
The New York Times obit of Perot is a classic of the genre:
And in 1992 he became one of the most unlikely candidates ever to run for president. He had never held public office, and he seemed all wrong, like a cartoon character sprung to life: an elfin 5 feet 6 inches and 144 pounds, with a 1950s crew cut; a squeaky, nasal country-boy twang; and ears that stuck out like Alfred E. Neuman’s on a Mad magazine cover. Stiff-necked, cantankerous, impetuous, often sentimental, he was given to homespun epigrams: “If you see a snake, just kill it. Don’t appoint a committee on snakes.”
Timesman Robert D. McFadden also described Perot as a “wiry Texas gadfly.” I’m fond of gadflies. I’m one myself.
1992 was one of the most exciting elections of my lifetime. It had everything: sex scandals, a huge Democratic field, and an incumbent president who was good at governing but rotten at campaigning. Poppy Bush was challenged by wingnut gadfly Pat Buchanan whose insurgent campaign damaged the incumbent enough to doom his candidacy. Thanks, Pat.
And then there was Ross Perot. He entered the race on Larry King Live, exited the race during the Democratic Convention, then re-entered the race just in time to debate Bush and Clinton.
The featured image is of my favorite moment in the first debate: Bush checking his watch. Does anybody really know what time it is, does anybody really care?
Perot did well in 1992, winning 19% of the popular vote and his candidacy was the final blow to Poppy Bush’s chances.
Perot was quirky and idiosyncratic. The term eccentric billionaire seemed to have been coined for him. I’d like to thank him at this point for helping to elect the Clinton-Gore ticket thereby breaking the Democrats losing streak in presidential races. It was a helluva campaign y’all.
Perot’s third party candidacy in 1992 showed the utility of such an effort whereas his 1996 campaign showed its futility: he won only 8% of the popular vote and wasn’t invited to debate Clinton and Dole.
I used to do a wicked Ross Perot impression but I lost it after he left center stage. It typically involved the phrase “great sucking sound,” which he used to describe NAFTA but is equally applicable to the Trump Regime.
The last word goes to Patsy Cline with the song Team Perot played as he hit the stage to concede in 1992:
Adrastos, Elections, Political Crack, Television
Instant Analysis: Cattle Call Debate Act One
Nothing that happened on that glitzy stage in Miami mattered all that much. Some candidates performed well and others bombed but in the end, a good ground game in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina will matter infinitely more.
Hell, I don’t even think general election debates matter all that much: Hillary and Kerry destroyed their opponents, which is the political equivalent of winning the battle and losing the war.
One jarring thing about the debate was the performative Spanish speaking by several candidates. It started to feel as if it were a Canadian debate where they break into French from time-to-time. You say gracias, I say merci. Let’s call the whole thing off.
I have a few random thoughts about this random group of candidates:
Warren: My candidate performed well as always. There were stretches where she was quiet but she’s the frontrunner in this group so she didn’t need to mix it up with the likes of DeBlasio, Ryan, Delaney, and Gabbard.
Her closing argument was superb. It’s a good example of why I believe she’ll win the nomination and go on to be our first woman president.
Booker: He helped himself. He was strong, forceful, and passionate. He seems to have good chemistry with both Warren and Castro. A good thing since they’re her most likely running mates if she picks within the field of candidates.
Castro: The strongest performance of the night. He’s an impressive guy with a great back story. He’s making a real contribution to the race with his focus on immigration. It’s easy to imagine him cleaning up the Homeland Security Department in the next Democratic administration.
Beto: He’s an outstanding stump speaker but a poor debater. He came off as a nervous windbag who was trying too hard to be a 21st Century Bobby Kennedy.
It finally occurred to me who Beto reminds me of:
I may have been watching too much Justified of late BUT Beto reminds me of Boyd Crowder: toothy and windy.
— Shecky (@Adrastosno) June 27, 2019
Like Walton Goggins as Boyd Crowder, Beto never uses one word when ten are available. And they both have big, scary teeth.
He should reconsider running against Senator Cornhole in Texas. Running for president was a bad Beto…
Klobuchar: I like the Senator from Minnesota, but this was not her best performance. Her closing argument was a dud: I’m electable yadda, yadda, yadda. Why? At this point in time, Trump looks like a stone cold loser unless his pals in the Kremlin bail him out again.
Inslee: In a word, inconsistent. Gave some good answers on climate change but rambled at other times. His makeup was a disaster. It made him look 20 years older than he is.
DeBlasio: Tall, annoying, and loud.
Delaney: Why was this bozo even onstage? He looks like a wrestling coach. I halfway expected him to apply a Half-Nelson to one of his opponents.
Ryan: He gave a decent answer early on about guns then became increasingly incoherent. He spent much of the second half giving forgettable answers about the forgotten people. I forget exactly what he said.
Gabbard: Ryan was so inept that he gave Gabbard a chance to shine. I hate to say that because she’s awful and should exit the race, stage left.
Athenae, Elections
On Nostalgia, Joe Biden, and the ‘Shortcomings’ of the Young
God, it’s such good sport to beat up on Joe:
Don’t misread here: He’s being a tool about a lot of things and if he’d just shut his goddamn trap he could likely coast to a primary victory, but he can’t stop setting his brand on fire in the street. Whether that’s good or not is totally impossible to say, since “electability” is for suckers and national head-to-head polls are stupid as hell.
Nobody knows what’s going to happen next spring. Shit, we barely know what’s going to happen next WEEK, so my enthusiasm for wading into this nonsense at this point is pretty limited. I was a Deaniac and still am a Kerry stan, guys. Once bitten, etc. But there’s something going on with Biden that I think is interesting beyond just the usual “here’s a dude running for president.” I mean, there are lots and lots of dudes running.
(We hear about them constantly because it’s either that or talk about the women, after all.)
So, Biden:
“I know how to make government work,” Biden said. “I’ve worked across the aisle. I’ve worked to reach consensus.” It wasn’t just a call back to his time as Barack Obama’s wingman vice president but also to his days in the Senate when, to hear him tell the tale, politicians ruled in the best interests of everyone, regularly struck bipartisan deals, and didn’t shout at or demonize their opponents in the pursuit of scoring political points.
There is, of course, a hunger for what we think of as normalcy, which is really a return to a time when we were happy. When that was depends hugely on what you look like, where you live, and what you want. I remember the late 1970s/early 1980s as joyous because my grandparents were alive and I was five years old. Every day was sunny and we had enough to eat and my dad was stealing cable from the neighbors. It was excellent, you know?
Iranian-American children might not have had as much fun in those years, just for example. So while I would dearly love to go back to a time when I was totally ignorant of the world’s problems, I can understand that for others the lure is less. If you can legally marry the love of your life now, you might not want to return to a time when you could be jailed for such a thing. Again, just for example.
The Biden Administration is unlikely to go out of its way to put immigrant children in concentration camps nor attack loving couples whose adopted children were born in the United States. The Biden Administration is unlikely to nominate an actual fascist to replace RBG. The Biden Administration is unlikely, perhaps, to slap its collective dick on China’s dinner table. And if what we face is four more years of Trump cosplaying the Declaration of Independence BUT AS KING GEORGE then I will loudly, enthusiastically, and downright gleefully vote for the Biden Administration in all its dumbass 1950s glory.
I will post memes. I will quit my job and buy a panel van and follow that shit around like the Grateful Dead. My Jackie-O suits will come out of storage.
That’s not the choice yet, though, so here’s my thing with nostalgia. It’s fucking pointless, and it’s sad, and it doesn’t help anything, and its entire function is to let you off the hook for working hard to keep up with the world and being wrong about it as you try to understand.
Do you know, I run in a lot of totebagger circles. I spend SO MUCH TIME listening to people lament division and partisanship and information silo-ing and how we’ve somehow suddenly developed the inability to tell fact from fiction and listen to each other. We need to build bridges, don’t you know. We need to reach out to each other. We need to come together and remember we’re all human!
WE NEED TO STOP KILLING EACH OTHER, is the main thing I want to scream in response, as white supremacists shoot up schools and synagogues week after week after week, as the price of insulin skyrockets, as kids with cancer beg their friends to run lemonade stands for them. Middle- and upper-class white people need civility because then politics can stop distracting us, but everybody else needs to be able to stop dying.
And in order for that to happen we’re going to have to reckon with the world we created in a way that I know our mainstream media sources, the morning shows and quick sports-radio asides that drive the thrust of our national narrative, don’t have the resources or the intelligence or the desire to do.
So to spend the next two years talking about being nice to Republicans, about “reaching across the aisle,” about yearning for the days when things were simpler and kinder … it isn’t just that the prospect doesn’t appeal to me personally (though of course it could). It’s that all it’s going to do is make us smaller, weaker, more powerless, less able to do what needs to be done.
The cultural fracturing isn’t going to stop; too many new stories are being told. Republican malfeasance, criminality and treason aren’t going to stop. And previously marginalized people who are developing the ability to fight back aren’t going to stop, because it’s not the culture or civility or some idea of their childhood they’re fighting for. It’s their lives, right now, right fucking now, today.
In the face of that reality we need someone who can recognize it for what it is, and greet it warmly, arms wide open, enthusiastic for the tumult and the shouting because burning is the only way anything new can be born. More likely it’s not just one person who can bring the energy we see all around us to our politics. More likely it’s dozens, elected by people who aren’t interested in our yesterdays, who can see the waves coming into the shore and not turn their backs.
Who can greet what we have now with strength and courage, and not deplore the lack of what never was, not for all of us, not even once.
Adrastos, Campaign Notes, Diary, Elections, Fog Of History, Political Crack, So Called Liberal Media
Memories Of The Muskie Administration
The MSM punditocracy hasn’t learned anything from the 2016 election. They’re still fixated on early polling and “discovering” bright shiny objects instead of reporting the campaign. I *had* hoped they’d learned that insider political journalism was bankrupt as declared by Ben Smith last summer. But they haven’t learned a damn thing and continue to focus on the horse race aspects of the “why not me” campaign. Remember the Avenatti boomlet? I’d prefer to forget it.
After declaring Joe Biden’s candidacy DOA, many in the punditocracy now think that he’s the inevitable nominee. They’re wrong in both instances. Frontrunner status has a way of bringing a candidate crashing to earth, especially in such a large field. Remember President Dean?
I have fond memories of the 2009-2017 Hillary Clinton administration. She was the frontrunner that time around and ended up losing the nomination. Secretary of State was a pretty damn good consolation prize. Thanks, Obama.
The ultimate Democratic frontrunner who failed was Senator Edmund Sixtus Muskie of Maine. 1972 was my formative year as a political junkie. It was the first time I was old enough to pay attention. I supported George McGovern but liked Muskie and didn’t understand why he was torn down by a media that had built him up as the inevitable nominee for two years. I was too young to get it then.
Ed Muskie was Hubert Humphrey’s running mate in 1968. The contrast between him and the man I refuse to claim as my countryman, Spiro Agnew, was stark. Muskie was calm, thoughtful, and qualified. The self-loathing Greek, Ted (Don’t Call Me Spiro) Agnew, was the exact opposite: bombastic, shallow, and unqualified. He was also a crook who took bribes while serving as Veep.
One of the best ads of the 1968 election cycle mocked Agnew:
Back to Ed Muskie. He emerged from the ’68 campaign as a national figure. His calm, reasoned reply to a frenetic midterm broadcast by Tricky Dick in 1970 made him a star and the ’72 frontrunner. The tall Senator was called Lincolnesque by many observers. What candidate wouldn’t want to be compared to Honest Abe?
Muskie led in every Democratic preference poll from that moment on. He was frequently ahead of Nixon in head-to-head polls through the early months of 1972. One of his campaign themes was Trust Muskie, drawing an obvious contrast to a president whose nickname was Tricky Dick.
This button is a good example of Muskie’s message:
Muskie was inevitable, until he wasn’t. His frontrunner status made him a target for Nixon’s dirty tricksters and at 6’4″ he was a big target. Attacks on his wife, Jane, caused Big Ed to snap and cry in public, which in the uber-macho atmosphere of 1972 helped doom his candidacy. Nixon and his lackeys had the opponent they wanted in the general election.
Among the many ironies of Muskie’s doomed campaign is that he actually won the New Hampshire primary, but the punditocracy, unaware of Nixonian dirty tricks, declared McGovern the “winner.” Muskie’s campaign might have come a cropper anyway: he was over reliant on big name endorsements and blurred his strongly liberal political views into blandness on the advice of his advisers.
Muskie was also dogged in 1972 by a bizarre and untrue story concocted by Hunter S. Thompson about his use of a hallucinogenic drug, Ibogaine. Thompson later claimed it was a joke and that nobody believed the story anyway. That just wasn’t so. I think of Ed Muskie every time I hear Hunter Thompson lionized as a voice for fearless independent journalism when, in fact, he was in the bag for Team McGovern. Projection thy name is Hunter S. Thompson.
What lessons can be drawn from my memories of the Muskie administration?
It’s not over until it’s over.
Don’t trust the MSM punditocracy and early polls. They’re both eminently changeable. Just ask former media darling Beto O’Rourke.
Insider political journalism *should* be dead, but it’s not.
The last word goes to Alice Cooper with a hit song from 1972:
Tell Me Again How Both Parties Are The Same
Do it. I dare you:
Can’t transport more than 2 non-family voters unless you fill out a form identifying them and affirming they “are physically unable to enter the polling place without personal assistance or likelihood of injuring their health.”
I dare you:
Texas Sen. Bryan Hughes’ new bill, S. Bill 9, will disallow driving of elderly, disabled, or poor people to the polls. It would ban efforts with vans full of elderly from nursing homes, disabled people, poor people who don’t have cars, would be illegal in Texas.
A bill currently making its way through the Tennessee legislature would impose new restrictions on groups that hold voter registration drives and subject them to potential jail time and massive fines.
Under one of the provisions, individuals or organizations that submit 100 to 500 “deficient” voter registration applications, meaning forms that are incomplete or contain incorrect information, could be hit with a $150 to $2,000 fine. Submitting more than 500 “deficient” forms could result in a fine of up to $10,000.
When the 2020 elections are a nonstop shitshow we’re going to see a lot of griping about black turnout not being where it should be and “fuck the South” and all that other nonsense, and every internet bro lamenting that the American people just will not RISE UP will have no idea that any of this happened at all.
I was not angry since I came to France (that isn’t true, I’m angry all the time) but motherfucking fucking FUCK these people. People who drive people to the polls or register them to vote take time away from their work and their homes and their kids to make sure people can exercise pretty much the only right they have left and
And not for nothing but if you’re driving busloads of old people from nursing homes to the polls it’s a better than even chance they’re voting Republican or not for the super-liberal Democrat anyway so talk about some counterproductive shitass bullshit.
When this starts disallowing busloads of voters from the megachurch to turn out for whatever regressive chicken-fried cornpone motherfucker as is currently humping Jesus’s leg, look for a real quick reversal and a “we certainly didn’t mean WHITE people” sort of denial.
Adrastos, Campaign Notes, Elections, Fog Of History, Music, The Darnold
Quote Of The Day: Bill Weld On Trump
I’m a hardcore Democrat so I’m not supporting Bill Weld, BUT I got a kick out of that slogan when I saw it on the book of faces. As a longtime observer of presidential politics, I’m keeping an eye on Weld’s nascent challenge to the Insult Comedian. In the primary era, presidents who face a serious intra-party challenge lose re-election. By serious, I mean someone who can poll enough votes early on to inflict political damage such as Pat Buchanan or Gene McCarthy neither of whom expected to win the nomination. But Poppy Bush lost and LBJ withdrew. Mission accomplished.
Weld is something of an anachronism: a moderate New England Republican. They used to be plentiful but now they’re as rare as the dodo bird. Weld, however, is no dodo.
Massachusetts pols have traditionally done well in the New Hampshire primary. It’s also one of twenty states where unenrolled voters can vote in a party primary, which gives Weld a chance to bloody Trump’s nose with the help of independents. And they’re plentiful in the Granite State.
Weld sat down for an extended interview with the NYT’s Jeremy W. Peters. I got a kick out of this exchange:
There’s conservatism and Trumpism. One is an ideology, the other is more of an attitude. But increasingly a lot of conservatives worry that the two have become inseparably linked. Are they?
They shouldn’t be. Trumpism is frankly devotion to Mr. Trump’s megalomania. I mean, he’s got a lot going on in his head. The man is so angry so much of the time. It’s hard for me to see how one single head could contain so much anger, so much wrath.
He says, “I’m a counterpuncher.” He is not a counterpuncher. He will take off with tweets or action after any slight, real or imagined. My read is the guy is terrified maybe he’s a loser, which is why he lashes out at anybody. I don’t know everything that’s going on there. But I do know that I would not want to have the president’s demons. I feel for the guy in a way. They’re not normal.
That reminds me of some venerable Neil Finn lyrics:
There’s closets in my head where dirty things are kept
That never see the light of day
I want to drag them out, go for a walk
Just to see the look that’s on your face
Sometimes I can’t be straight I don’t want to hurt you
So forgive me if I tell a lie
Sometimes I come on cold but don’t believe it
I will love you till the day I die
I guess the last line could be the president* referring to his true love, himself. Hell, the next couplet fits as well:
I believe in doing things backwards
Take heed, start doing things in reverse
That concludes what one could call the sub-quote of the day. I believe I just did.
The last word goes to Crowded House:
Adrastos, Campaign Notes, Comedy, Elections, Fog Of History, Political Crack, Race, Television
Great White Hopes Or Killer Bees?
Everybody’s running for president; every Democrat, that is. Former Veep Joe Biden disregarded my unsolicited advice and threw his shades in the ring. Why not? He’s the polling frontrunner, which is a meaningless distinction at this point, Just ask Ed Muskie, Howard Dean, and Rudy Giuliani. That’s right, the artist formerly known as Mayor Combover was the early GOP frontrunner in 2008. In 2019, the artist formerly known as America’s Mayor is reduced to being Trump’s mouthpiece. Where’s that rebuttal report, Rudy? Or was it just another lie?
I’m still undecided in the race. I like four candidates and consider them plausible presidents: Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, and Amy Klobuchar. Note that none of them is a white dude and three aren’t dudes at all. They haven’t received the level of media attention that four white dudes have: Bernie, Biden, Beto, and Buttigieg. I’m uncertain whether to call them the Great White Hopes or the Killer Bees so I gave the two labels equal billing in the post title.
Here’s the deal: I understand the attention paid to Bernie and Biden. The former was the 2016 runner-up and the latter has run twice before and was Barack Obama’s veep for 8 years. They have the name recognition to go along with the white hair of which Bernie has much more than Joey the Shark. They have another thing in common: they’re both septuagenarians, which is not disqualifying but gives me pause.
Mayor Pete seems to have supplanted Beto as the MSM’s darling. They both have slender resumes for putative presidents but it’s the Why Not Me election so they’re running. My preference is to have a nominee who has run and won statewide, which rules out the young gun set of the Killer Bees.
I will support anyone against Trump but the mayor of a college town with a population of 109K? Really? Julian Castro also has not run and won a statewide race but at least he was a big city mayor and cabinet secretary. What’s the difference between him and Mayor Pete? Ethnicity. The campaign press corps has a hard time identifying with a Latino; even one with such an amazing Horatio Alger-type back story. Julian is just as cute as Pete and would also make history. Beto would simply be the latest white dude to be nominated albeit a white dude who used to be in a band. I was too. Perhaps I should run.
There’s another difference between Castro and the other young guns: he’s running a substantive campaign. He’s thought a lot about immigration and how the system can be changed and reformed. It’s badly needed after the chainsaw tactics of Trump and Miller. Castro is a longshot but he’s making a contribution to the dialogue in a way that neither Beto nor Buttigieg is. Frankly, I hope that Castro and/or Beto will drop out and run against John Cornyn back home in Texas. Winning the senate is every bit as important as retaking the White House. Democrats have been fixated on the latter way too long. We need to multi-task.
It’s still early and anything can happen in the Democratic field. There are two qualities that are being underestimated by observers thus far. First, the 2020 nominee has to be tough: Team Trump’s only path to victory is total annihilation of their opponent. Second, many voters want a restoration of what Gamaliel called “normalcy” and Adrastos calls normality. They are quite simply exhausted by the endless Trump scandals. I’m convinced that many 2016 Trump voters will pull the lever for peace and quiet in 2020.
The post title is, of course, wry and sardonic. None of the Killer Bees thinks of themselves as a Great White Hope although both Bernie and Biden need to do a better job explaining themselves to people of color, especially black women who are tired of being taken for granted. They should be: they’re the backbone of the Democratic base. That’s why the clips of yesterday’s She The People forum were so much fun to watch. Warren killed it. Bernie struggled. So it goes.
One reason I chose the featured Killer Bee image was the sign in the background: Swine Flu Inoculation Center. The executive branch is loaded with swines. We need to stop the disease called Trumpism in its tracks. Additionally, the Insult Comedian has pandered to the anti-vaxxers who have brought back measles. Thanks, Trumpy. We need inoculation from these swines. If it takes the Great White Hopes or the Killer Bees, so be it. Just win, baby.
The last word goes to the original Killer Bees led by the great Elliot Gould:
https://thisdayinsnlhistory.tumblr.com/post/107805140974/january-10-1976-the-killer-bees-make-their
I’m caught in another last word lie. Does that qualify me for a Trump regime cabinet job?
Let’s shut things down with the musical stylings of the Blues Brothers; some of whom were also Killer Bees:
Athenae, Congress, Elections
Mitch Mitch Mitch, OUT OUT OUT
I wrote this back in 2016 and I’m still on that shit, as the kids say.
In fact, I’ll go one further: The entire Resistance ™ should focus much less on ousting Trump and throw its entire weight behind ruining Mitch McConnell’s existence into and through the afterlife.
Without Mitch, Trump couldn’t do jack dick.
Without Mitch and his pets in the howler monkey sanctuary we call the Senate, we wouldn’t have Gorsuch and Kavanaugh. We’d have Merrick Garland and yeah, probably some borderline fascist but COME ON.
Get rid of this turtle fuck and a few of his circle-jerking fascist-curious Klan buddies and suddenly Trump’s a neutered dillhole yelling at the TV instead of all that plus an imminent threat to the Republic.
We are spending all of our time yelling at Bernie and Joe Biden and Mayor Pete and I’m not saying who they are, and the media biases inherent in raising them above Kamala and Professor Zero Fucks, should be irrelevant, but Mitch McConnell is the problem.
Defeat Trump and leave Mitch in place and you have Obama’s second term which, in case anyone has blocked it out, sucked second-hand donkey sack.
With Mitch around nothing gets solved. We should be throwing ourselves at him like White Walkers at the fucking Wall. Who’s running against him? WHO YOU GOT? We’ll take anybody. They’re problematic as shit and too conservative? OKAY, HERE’S SOME MONEY THEN.
And like this is nice but I want to see party money, celebrity money, dirty sexy money, not just spent on ads for another celebrity but on voter registration and ground volunteers and GOTV and like-minded issue-oriented efforts like LET’S HAVE A DEMOCRACY AGAIN and I KNOW THIS IS KENTUCKY BUT CAN WE PLEASE TAKE SOME OF THE GUNS and OUR ROADS AND BRIDGES ARE ALL FUCKED UP. I want this fight fought like it matters.
We can spend the next year all of us having yelly angry high dudgeon about Bernie and Kamala and shit, or we can focus for once in our party’s lives and send this foreskin-headed hijo de Putin into retirement or indictment.
I’m not picky. It’s all fine so long as at the end of the day he’s gone.
Adrastos, Elections, Political Crack, Stupid Republican Tricks, The Darnold
A Gift From The President*
I knew that Trump would overreach after his “total exoneration” by his hand-picked Attorney General but I didn’t think it would happen so quickly and stupidly. This Daily Beast headline sums it up quite well: “WTF Is Wrong With Them’: Republicans Horrified As Trump Goes After Obamacare Again.
I like it when Republicans are horrified. They’ve been horrifying me for years.
The first four paragraphs of the piece are equally delightful:
Over the past 24 hours, Republican officials have watched in horror as the Trump administration once again fully embraced the repeal of Obamacare, just over a year after the issue proved toxic for the party at the ballot box.
The embrace came in two steps: with the Department of Justice siding with a lower court ruling that declared the health care law invalid in toto, and with the president tweeting that the Republican Party would become the party of health-care reform. And it quickly complicated what had been widely viewed as one of the best weeks of Trump’s presidency. Ebullient over a four-page summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s meddling—a summary that said the president was not guilty of collusion—Trump suddenly found himself back in a debate that has vexed his administration.
GOP officials couldn’t help but marvel at Trump’s inability to enjoy a rare grace period. “They are completely tone deaf,” texted one of the party’s top strategists. “How bout a few more victory laps on Mueller while you can get away with it? WTF is wrong with them?”
But seasoned Trump hands were hardly surprised at the rake Trump had placed his foot on. “And there’s something unusual about him stepping on a good message?” one former administration official said, laughing when asked about the timing of the announcement.
The policy shift was opposed by the two officials in charge of implementing it: the epistolary Attorney General, William Barr, and HHS secretary Alex Azar who, as far as we know, hasn’t written a letter in “total exoneration” of the Insult Comedian.
I’d like to thank the president* for this gift. He seems to have forgotten that health care was the issue that drove the Blue Wave in the midterms. There’s no cure for Trump’s own pre-existing condition, stupidity.
My hunch is that the decision was made after a long day of fuming over John McCain’s “treachery” on the ACA. Policy making by tantrum is a bad idea. I’m not a fan of it. I am, however, a fan of self-inflicted wounds by my political enemies.
It’s good to know that Trump’s Razor is still in effect. I’m glad he used it to slit his own political throat. Thanks Trumpy.
The Lev & Rudy Show
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Communion & Baptism
National Efforts
Global Efforts
First Presbyterian Church of Albany
Fiona McKinney
Categories: Staff
Fiona earned her B.S. in Musical Studies from the Crane School of Music, along with a second degree in French Literature, at SUNY Potsdam. In searching for a church home after moving to Albany, she found First Pres. She’s been the choir’s alto soloist since 1995.
Position: Alto Soloist
First Presbyterian has a long history in the city of Albany. Established in 1763, First Presbyterian has been an active leader in the community, ministering to the needs of people both in the neighborhood and around the world.
We are a congregation that works for peace and justice in our society.
362 State Street,
info@firstpresalbany.org
© 2020 First Presbyterian Church of Albany. All Rights Reserved.
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is PS4 a quality system, even without PS+ service?
Started by RJP_X, May 17, 2017
RJP_X 210
i avoid online play usually unless trophies are attached. and i'm in the least bit interested in the ps+ service and honestly it'd be a bit out of my price range, i have aspergers with really bad anxiety so i'm mostly home, never had a job, so i mostly rely on sales to get games. games like tales of berseria and the eventual ni no kuni 2 interest me. unfortunately xenoverse 2 interests me, but i might have to pass either completely, or for awhile at the start of getting the system. likely not getting the system till around christmas time anyways.
no AAA games really interest me that have or are releasing. but i'd like to play anime games that aren't on the vita/or ps3. the vita might still be able to keep my interest for a long time yet however with what it has, or is coming out. but PS3 is kinda running a bit thinner, as in nothing much more interesting to get for it besides Persona 5 obviously lol. although i still have a lot on deck for ps3 that could potentially interest me to try/return to.
so concern is if possibly the ps3 and vita can keep me going for yet another year, or if i should get a ps4 just in case ps3/and vita interest doesn't hold till christmas next year.
Cobby 1,599
Shit Gamer
Location: Failing at Mein Leben
Vita is dead... PS3 has loads of games that'll hold your interest.
So you could probably buy a PS4 when the PS5 releases.
KingGuy420 2,324
There are a ton of great single player games. Even if you do get desperate and want to play something online, there's a bunch of great f2p games that don't need plus lol.
On the other hand, you've stuck with 3 / Vita this long, you could probably still get some more mileage out of them. I know this hasn't been much help since it's basically what you already said but I figured I'd take a shot.
Superstarmaste1r 738
Vita and ps3 has so many games to offer where it's worth investing more of your time of playing both of them
Edited May 17, 2017 by Superstarmaste1r
Shadiochao 2,176
MADAO
If you already have a PS3 and Vita then PS+ would be incredibly worth it simply due to the fact that it gives you 72 free games each year between all three systems. If you enjoy just two or three of those games then it's already a worthwhile investment and the rest is just a bonus.
But even without PS+, the PS4 is a great system. I only ever play multiplayer when I need to for a trophy and I still couldn't be happier with my PS4 thanks to all the amazing single-player games it has given me access to. So not being able to play multiplayer certainly wouldn't be an issue for me outside of trophy hunting.
I don't know how readily available it is where you live, but if money would be an issue then I'd recommend renting games instead of buying them. I rent most of the games I play, because if it weren't for that I'd barely be able to afford any. Assuming it gets a physical release, I'm able to enjoy any new game for less than 10% of their retail price. Although I tend to complete games fairly quickly and lose interest once I have, so it might not be the best option if you want to play games over a long period of time.
archangel9978 23
Being an owner of all three systems I am still quite happy with ps4 and rarely play ps3 and mostly use vita for ps4 remote play
50 minutes ago, KingGuy420 said:
yeah but i have had ps3 since the end of 2011. on one hand, it took me 5 years to get one after launch. on the other hand if i got a ps4 this year that would be 4 years after launch, so maybeee i could wait a whole nother year after all. lol. also for some reason which seems to a helping factor is that it feels like this year is going by extra fast. and i still got a lot to potentially play. i've finished some games i've really wanted to, but not at the preferred speed. if i just wait another year i could take my time more lol.
43 minutes ago, Superstarmaste1r said:
very true. especially the vita, its like the most surprisingly addicting system i've ever known and i've played a lot to offer for most systems, except xbox and computer.
36 minutes ago, Shadiochao said:
yeah outside of multiplayer trophies i barely engage in online gaming, like one i played that didn't need boosting, although sort of fun modes was the last of us. but i felt quite intimidated playing through it, first time i dealt with negativity online with people on their mics. within my first play i was getting messages from players to please leave, then on the next map some guy with awful name calling. i stuck through it by muting my TV and playing some music lol. there's only one person i play games with online and even that's pretty rare. i'm mostly signed off psn when i play games lol. i don't feel comfortable getting on mics and being awful like a lot of people do these days, i'm to nervous to do that, let alone start bashing people online. lol.
Undead Wolf 13,951
Oh, I get it... You're a NPC!
Looking at your profile, you've barely even scratched the surface of the Vita and PS3's library. I'm sure there's plenty of games that you've overlooked that you could get for cheap. If you're tight on cash, I don't really see a point in buying a PS4 right now. It's still very much a growing library.
As for the question of whether or not the PS4 is a quality system without PS+, it is. As someone who doesn't play many online games either, I mainly just use it for cloud saves and discounts. The instant game collection isn't as good as it used to be. Sure, they give away plenty of smaller games, but you'll need to buy the games actually worth purchasing the system for.
LouTheDroog 593
Obliterator of weebs
If you're having to ask this late in the console generation while still being stranded on Vita and PS3 island, then it's probably not for you.
dmland12 1,335
Inverted Y-Axis Enthusiast
It's certainly possible to enjoy almost all PS4 games without Plus. There's a few out there that are very MP heavy, but it doesn't sound like you're interested in them anyway. So, there's nothing wrong with going that way if you want to. Ultimately no one else can really tell you what you should do... it's up to you.
1 hour ago, RJP_X said:
I hear you there! I had heard things like this before about The Last of Us. So, when I went after the MP trophies for it I just kept everyone muted (there was an option to mute when starting a game, at least on the PS4 version). There's no reason to have to put up with that sort of nonsense if you don't want to. And I didn't want to.
RisingSenpai616 208
Your Friendly Neighbourhood Senpai
Location: Leprechaun Land
I've only been getting into multiplayer recently but the PS4 is still solid for single play. Given that Sony are pretty much the go to JRPG company I imagine we'll have a lot of SP content to sink our teeth into over time as well. My little Vita-kun is precious to me but, unfortunately, he hasn't been getting the love he deserves recently. If you're running out of games on the older consoles it's a solid buy with or without PS+.
AuzzieWingman 404
Location: Shitney
I would say yes. Plenty of games to play with hefty single player content. Even Infinite Warfare has a worthy campaign.
Rally-Vincent--- 563
Gunsmith Cat
Location: Not Even Close
I am very content with the PS4. There are more than enough good single player games with no or few online trophies. Sony has one or two free multiplayer weekends per year in an attempt to lure in people to PSPlus, which is a good opportunity to finish a few online trophies needed for a plat.
audiopile 516
Let's try to help each other, shall we?
I don't like online game play either. I used to.
The PS4 is a great machine but it does want to connect to the internet for pretty much every game even if just to access leaderboards. It's frankly quite annoying. It also wants to check for licenses of downloaded games, also annoying.
I'd say stick with what you have until the hardware fails or you have exhausted the catalog.
g-bake_1986 260
If you're short of money then I'm surprised you aren't a PS+ member, you get dozens of games per year with it. I get that you can't choose the selection, and they may not all appeal to you, but generally they offer some sort of entertainment even if you've never heard of them.
Anyway, I think the PS4 is well worth it without PS+. Think of all the great single player games released this year alone.
dmsleight 174
if money is an issue, then + isnt great. You pay for the games every month, yet someone else picks them out for you. Seems like a bad deal to me. I want to pay for what I want to play.
DARKB1KE 707
Judging by your post I'd say stick to PC gaming if you want more anime games. Steam offers tons of them.
PS4 doesn't have a big library yet.
In terms of is it a good system, better than PS3 by far. Better graphics and loading time.
Go To Topic Listing PlayStation 4
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Broncos Message Boards > Broncos Football > Forum Archives > 2005 Training Camp > Can Dorsett Davis be a factor?
View Full Version : Can Dorsett Davis be a factor?
Do you think this guy has a shot now this year since he's healthy? (KNOCKS ON WOOD)
I remember reading reports that he was one of the top DT in college who actually can get to the QB......
Have you seen anything in him? Or is he a sure cut?
DURANGO BRONCO
If performance is the deciding factor I would have to say he will make the team.
He was the most impressive Lineman on Saturday.
I heard that he was putting some pressure on the QB.
Does he have any chance of taking "super mario fatfaehis (sp)" job?
chickennob2
nope. Fatafehi is a lock. However, if some injuries occur, i could see davis making the team.
defense!!!
Dorsett Davis got injured today.
ttejuco
Dorsett Davis has replaced Mario Fatafehi on second string defence.
Source, denverbroncos.com
bcbronc
ya every report ive read or seen has been very positive. he seems to be getting pressure and making plays in practise. he could be a pleasant surprise. imagine one of shannys drafts on the line coming through?
I think this could be a big year for Dorsett Davis as I posted in June. However, he has shown these flashes of effort and ability in training camp before and then went into hibernation. He has the ability. Now, does he have the work ethic? The knock on him coming out of college was that he took plays off. :confused:
Shanahan drafted Pryce if I remember correctly- not a bad pick, but I understand your point. Successful drafting at those positions has been way below average. :coffee:
Reggie Hayward and Montae Reagor havent werent to shabby either, I think his average is a lil higher than some like to think, b/c good D-linemen are very hard find.
Good point Sam. This is especially true when you look at the failure rate on first and second round picks spent upon the D-line by all NFL teams. It and QB seems to be a crap shoot.
JRWIZ
BUT, price only had a couple of superb years, then mediocrity and had to be called on the carpet for a couple of years. Once he got his new contract he was nothing special. Just showed up for work did not perform @ a $9,000,000.00 per year level. Or maybe my expectations are a tad high.
Potential was on the moon, has not played like it since getting the really BIG contract.
Had I been Mikey I'd have cut the clown and ate the cap space and sent a message to the squad
no workee, no payee.
DistilledFun
jr your kidding right? pryce is widely considered a pro bowler and he and al wilson were the bright spot on our team before the new D had been a point of emphasis with shanny. ie 99-02 in 03 it was double team pryce all time and in 04 he was hurt. in 05 look for pryce to goto the probowl and in doing so making the browncos look real good.
rcsodak
Seems to me that that phrase is becoming WAYYYYY too overused in the scouting reports being given.
How the hell do they know what's going on in a college kid's head? Girlfriend probs. Money probs. Grade probs. Family probs....
Its not like they're making bookoo bucks, riding hummers and hanging with their homies.
College is NOT their livelihoold....but a stepping stone in their lives.
I wasn't exactly a go-getter in college either, but that doesn't mean I work any less than anybody else, now.
Next thing you know, they'll be talking about how they were fat/out of shape back in grade school..... :coffee:
delaranta
I agree. I thought he did a good job getting penetration, and collapsing the pocket. The biggest problem they had against the run was poor tackling, and overpursuit.
Mat'hir Uth Gan
Pryce stopped being double-teamed awhile ago. Also, what kind of excuse is that anyway? Micheal Strahan gets doubleteamed, he still puts up 70+ tackles and 15+ sacks a season from Strongside End. Pryce was getting paid more then he was.
Pryce contributes on average 40 tackles, 7 sacks. And he makes a ridiculous amount of money for such marginal production.
JR is absolutely right in his critique of Pryce. And Pryce has not deserved to go to the Pro Bowl since 1999.
NOT at all his performance after the big contract renewal sucked. as shown below.
Year Team G GS Int DTD STY SACK TACKLE
2004 DEN 2 1 0 0 0 0 1
2003 DEN 16 16 0 0 0 8.5 28
2002 DEN 16 16 0 0 0 9 40
2000 DEN 16 16 0 1 0 12 33
1997 DEN 8 3 0 0 0 2 16
9 Season 105 98 2 1 1 60 214
Dramatic drop off in production after the contract and his start up business of being a recording mogul.
Only after being singled out by both Rod and Mikey did he decide to do something about earning his $9,000,000.00 per year contract. He rededicated himself to football going into the 2004 season. Dropped fat and became leaner only to have back surgery.
Did you think he earned his salary the last couple of years?
good use of stats but i would like to know how often he was facing double teams. also could the move from dt to de have effected his play to show for the drop off. in 9 years (one year injured so basicaly 8years) 60 sacks isnt terrible but you can see that there was a drop off. on a dline who wasnt good at getting pressure from any postition pryce has been the dominate force. lets hope he picks it back up in 05 and gets 15 sacks and 60 tackles. :beer:
I jnowthat during that frame he was doubled, But to have the team tleader and HC call you out for not produce they are seeing the lack of focus and production.
Simply put he was not producing what his level of compensation demanded. I remember reading several articles about his love for music and his recording company I would think perhaps his focus was not on the field but in the studio.
With the the talent around him no excuses this year. NO more phoning it in on sundays.
Not to mention the fact that Pryce HIMSELF elluded to his past play as not being good enough for what he was getting paid!
THAT, in itself, should ring thunderously loud, in broncomania..... ;)
Pryce makes other players better, which is just as good.
Cugel
I've quoted this before but it's worth repeating. Here's what Michael Strahan thinks about Trevor Pryce:
He creates havoc among the offensive line because sometimes you need two guys to block him and it frees up other guys on the line twists and things like that," said John Tait, the former Kansas City Chiefs right tackle who signed with the Chicago Bears during the off-season.
"They're the ones who'll sometimes get the sack or the pressure on the quarterback, where Trevor is really the guy who probably caused it in the first place."
"It always starts with their front four, and Trevor's the guy who really shines," Tait said. "They've got some good athletes and good players there. But Trevor was always the guy that, when you went over the team and the scouting report, he was highlighted as the guy that needed to be taken care of and needed to account for, then everything else goes from there."
League officials apparently concur. In a poll of 22 pro personnel directors conducted this spring by USA Today's Sports Weekly, only Michael Strahan, Jason Taylor, Simeon Rice and Jevon Kearse were ranked higher among defensive ends. The publication's scouts rated Pryce third, behind only Strahan and Taylor.
"I don't think he gets the amount of publicity that he should get," Michael Strahan said. "He's one of the hidden-gem linemen in the business. And if there's somebody you'd want somebody to model their game after, it would be a guy like him. He plays the run and the pass and can get it done as a tackle or an end."
Pryce's 58 sacks are fifth-most in the league since he became a full-time player in 1998. He trails only Strahan (82), Rice (75.5), Taylor (66) and Jason Gildon (60) during that period.
But unlike those other four players, Pryce has gotten most of his sacks (40.5) as a defensive tackle. The Broncos played him mainly at the strong-side end last season while often shifting him inside in obvious passing situations to provide a push up the middle.
"He rarely gets a chance to play one-on-one with anybody no matter where they move him on the field," said Strahan, who has studied Pryce on tape but hasn't met him. "And I always tell people it's very easy to be a player out there on the field, one of 11, but whenever you're one of that 11 and everybody's focusing on you every play, every down, and you can still make it happen? Then that's the mark of a great player. And that's what Trevor is in the way he plays."
This is worth mentioning because John Tait is a lineman who has had to go against Pryce on an ongoing basis, and should be able to evaluate his skill level, while Strahan has been the best pass-rushing end in the NFL of the past 10 years. If he says that Pryce is someone to model your technique after that's saying something.
Who knows whether Pryce will be able play at a pro-bowl level after his back injury, the jury is still out on that one.
But I wouldn't rule it out at this point.
Jack Luminous
The idea that T Pryce has a back injury is a mis-nomer (sp?)....he said hinmself, yesterday on this site that his issue was never pain in the back, it was the weakening of the leg brought about by a damaged nerve. He has had to work hard to get that strength back, but says he has done that.
I look for T Pryce to have a very good season this year...
Pryce, like many other bronco players is underrated in the leauge. You look at what he did as a DT..... a DT (40.5 sacks). People don't realize that 40.5 sacks as a DT is superb. With TP at the LE, we know he'll get doubled. But that extra man leaves another player open for the strike, and unfortunately the people with more sacks make the pro bowl then the people who create the sacks.
Return of Lava
Dorsett will make the team. He is THE best goalline lineman we have.
BroncoRT
I am hoping we have Dorsett make the team along with Ellis, Warren and Myers. We will be pretty solid up the middle. :coffee:
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Godless thoughts from god's country
About the author of Nastik Deliberations
Arun N M is active both online and offline in promoting scientific temper and fighting religious nonsense and pseudoscience. He is an MD, specialised in Internal Medicine and works in Kerala , India. He is most of the time aware of his privileges as a straight male, cis, upper caste medical doctor.
I commonly write about
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Gandhi at 150
Hindu Right wins Indian election with more seats and votes
Is it good to have pharma ads on tv ?
The story so far of “New” Atheism from Kerala
Coming back again
Constitutional morality triumphs over Societal morality
Hindutva propaganda through Indian medical journal ?
Atheism and caste based job reservation
But what was she wearing ?
John Morales on Gandhi at 150
Beena Shaw on Hindu Right wins Indian election with more seats and votes
Sujith Valson on The story so far of “New” Atheism from Kerala
Alfonso on Religious belief kills a 13 year old girl by imposed fasting
Pierce R. Butler on Hindu Right wins Indian election with more seats and votes
mastmaker on Hindu Right wins Indian election with more seats and votes
voyager on Is it good to have pharma ads on tv ?
Tabby Lavalamp on Is it good to have pharma ads on tv ?
sonofrojblake on Is it good to have pharma ads on tv ?
Ex Muslim atheist leader faces death threat in India
Battle for reason in Punjab
The most famous Indian atheist
Himalayan thoughts
2016 Ambedkar atheism Bangladesh BJP blasphemy blasphemy charges Casteism Charlie Hebdo deaths Demonetisation Diabetes Diphtheria feminism France freedom of expression free speech Gujarat hindu right Hindutva Homeopathy India islam Islamist terror Kashmir Kerala Lahore blast LGBTQ Malaysia Misogyny Modi moral policing murder Olympics Pakistan Patriarchy Pseudo science Racism RSS Shirin Dalvi terror Trump violence women entry Yemen
Oppressor at home the bigger villain ?
India’s Hindutva ruling party and its leader Modi wants to make India a Hindu country run by rules and regulations of Hindu traditions. They garner votes by spreading hate of other religions and its followers. But interestingly here we see follower of a non Hindu religion, Islam, petitioning the Prime minister for help.
When mother-of-two-girls, Shagufta Shah, became pregnant a third time, her husband asked her to get an abortion.
Shamshad Sayeed didn’t want another daughter; neither did his parents.
“They feared that if I deliver a girl again, she will be a burden,” Shagufta said. “When I refused repeatedly, they started torturing me. On March 24, they forcibly tried to take me to the hospital and, when I resisted, they started beating me mercilessly.” Failing to get the child aborted, Shamshad and his family threw Shagufta out of the house.
“He (Shamshad) verbally gave me triple talaq and I was left on the road to die,” she said.
Taking a cue from fellow Saharanpur resident Atiya Sabri, Shagufta too decided to raise her voice against the instant divorce practice and wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for help.
The triple talaq is a Sharia law practice which allows men to end a marriage simply by saying “talaq” to their wives three times in succession.
While many Muslim-majority countries such as Pakistan and Indonesia have outlawed the custom for years, India -home to the world’s third-largest Muslim population- continues to allow it.
Shagufta approached the local police station the same day she was thrown out. “However, they took my complaint and only assured me that they would look into the matter. They did not register an FIR and chased us away,” she said.
“Since then, my brother and my father are getting threatening calls and they (Shamshad and her inlaws) are threatening to kill us.”
Failing to get any help from the police, Shagufta sent a letter to the PM with copies to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, the National Commission for Women as well as the district magistrate and top cop.
“Mr Prime minister, it is my humble request to please help this poor and helpless woman. I also request you to ensure that this evil tradition ends so that woman like me and other victims get justice and live a dignified life,” she wrote.
She believes she will get help from the Prime Minister. Modi will be happy to help her and to underline the pet rhetoric of his party that those living in a Hindu country cannot follow personal laws of a foreign religion. This will also help BJP to pose itself as a champion of women’s rights. Non BJP opposition who is taking a stand of minorities themselves should decide their personal laws can easily be exposed here as pandering to patriarchs of Muslim community for votes.
For muslim women living in very conservative families, BJP’s Hindutva may seem much less oppressive than that they face day in and day out in their homes. For them BJP government will be a better ally than non BJP governments which depends on votes controlled by Muslim patriarchs.
Take home message is this:
If a severely patriarchal tribe do not reform itself, women of the tribe may ask and get help from a more powerful patriarch of a rival tribe.
If you want secularism and is troubled by gender oppressive religious laws, you should be in the fore front of the Muslim women’s struggle against oppressive patriarchal customs. If you are not there, the void will be filled by Hindutva and we may only get a Hindutva version of patriarchy instead of the Islamic one.
Hindutva, India, Islam, terror, Uncategorized
Hate speech gives you power
Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has a new chief minister who is a Hindu priest and the head of the Gorakhnath Math (Gorakhnath Mutt), a temple of the Nath monastic group in the Nath tradition. Prime minister Modi chose him because the saffron clad Yogi Adityanath was the most popular among BJP leaders. He became popular as he was able to raise hatred against Muslims the most, following the path shown by Modi himself.
Hindutva, India, terror, Uncategorized
Incredibly intolerant India
Most Indians are proud of their country. They believe it is a free, tolerant,liberal country, think the Constitution guarantees free speech and the law and order machinery keeps the citizens safe. Even many abroad feel the same.
But the truth is far removed from this imaginary liberal India.
Most often Indians elect parties with intolerant majoritarian and undemocratic ideologies to run the governments. There is a competition among political parties to use religion, caste, nationalistic icons and cultural myths to mobilise voters and to cultivate hate. Questioning any of these with reason become blasphemous. Such free speech invites attack not only from goons but also from law and order machinery.
See what happened to college professor when he questioned why Shivaji, a (Hindu) cultural icon in some parts of India and a former king , is having two birthday celebrations, one in February and other in March. He was physically attacked by his students and fellow professors and later arrested by the Police. He was denied bail because the court believed his life is at risk outside the jail. I am sure the Police will not be inclined to arrest those who assaulted the professor.
France, Hindutva, India, Majoritarianism, terror
Islamists kill ex Muslim in Southern India
Farooq was an Iron scrap dealer living in the South Indian city of Coimbatore. He was an outspoken ex Muslim atheist who regularly used to criticise all religions including Islam on Facebook and Whatsapp. He was an active member of an outfit called Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhakam, a break away group of Dravidar Kazhakam.
Not able to answer his criticisms, Islamists decided to punish him as per their holy book.
Indeed, the penalty for those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and strive upon earth [to cause] corruption is none but that they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides or that they be exiled from the land. That is for them a disgrace in this world; and for them in the Hereafter is a great punishment, Quran 5 : 33
atheism, India, Islam, terror
Tragedy turned her into a fighter
My first post on this blog was about a horrific murder which exposed the casteist underbelly of India. It happened exactly a year ago near my town. Sanker, a Dalit youth was hacked to death in broad daylight for daring to love and marry a girl who was born to a higher caste. The girl had severe injuries too but survived. The attack was ordered by members of the girl’s family. Severely traumatized, the girl tried to kill herself by consuming poison but was saved.
Now the happy news. The girl in question is slowly turning over a new life.
Following her attempt to take her own life, she was counseled by her in-laws, several NGOs and volunteers. “They told me dying was not the solution. I was told to live through this caste violence to prove the point that I wanted to. I decided that I will make the dreams that my husband and I had, come true,” says Kowsalya. Now, a year later, that is what she has done.
After her suicide bid, she had moved back in with Sankar’s family, where she initially started taking tuitions for children from 1st standard to the 12th standard. “I wanted to do something to remove my mind from what happened. Plus, there was nobody to teach these children from the locality English. So I decided that I should do it,” says Kowsalya. But what she thought would be a favour to the students, turned out to be of great help to her, when it came to cracking the defence ministry exams.
Casteism, Dalits, India
Victory for religious identity politics over caste politics
Results of elections conducted in India’s largest and most populous state is out.
The Hindutva party of Prime minister Modi won a massive number of seats in the Uttar Pradesh State assembly. BJP and its allies got 80% of the seats ( 324 out of 403) with a vote share of around 40 % in the first-past-the-post voting system in a state with 200 million people (fifth most populous in the world if it was a separate country).
In a three cornered contest, the main rivals of BJP was an alliance between Samajvadi Party with Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party. SP- Congress alliance got around 28 % of votes ( 54 seats) while BSP got around 22% of votes (19 seats).
Hindutva, Identity politics, India
Happy International Women’s day
Rules to save girls from effects of hormonal outbursts
Maneka Gandhi is the Indian cabinet minister in charge of the ministry of women and child welfare. When she was asked about hostel curfews which forces girl students to be in their rooms by around 6pm in government run college hostels, she had this to say.
At 16 or 17 you are hormonally very challenged. So to protect you from your own hormonal outbursts, perhaps a lakshman rekha (a line that should not be crossed) is drawn. It really is for your own safety,’
Now can there be any better example of victim blaming than this ????
Image credit : NDTV
feminism, Gender discrimination, India
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My three biggest pet peeves with AAPG right now.
={101st}=Whiplash27 wrote: »
Drawn wrote: »
"Currently you have no penalties for movement"
So thought i'd say something.
Turning plus movement is twice as impactful.
I don't really mind the small 8 form sway. you should be pretty accurate slowly approaching a target. Enough games have this differently and i dont care how hard/soft sway is mostly.
Here's another idea... How about a non-tactical fast movement while ADS? Bumps up the sway considerably, but you can move faster while aiming down sights? Perfect for CQB, maybe not so good for long range. Another instance where the player can choose that trade-off.
I think it would make things overly complicated, we already have 2 paces while ADS. You'd need a new keybind. The only game I can think of, which does more is Tarkov. (Even in Arma 3 you only have 2 speeds while ADS.)
I also think that the current ADS movement speed is fast enough, I feel like having and even faster option wouldn't be good for gameplay... Everyone zipping around, while being accurate... But of course, this is not based on any hard facts.
Of course everything would depend on the actual realization, but I personally don't think we'd get this big of an overhaul to the movement system at this point. I mean it doesn't make too much sense to redesign the movement in a 4-year-old (4?) game.
Does "tactical" in ADS make you go slower? I guess it probably does, but I don't think I've ever used it. Regular ADS should be the tactical version and the faster version non-tactical. Again, the penalty for using it would be high sway, maybe even very high sway. Mainly use it in CQB or maybe if you can master the pattern then it's a different story.
I also wont wade into this one, one person here is very clearly missing the mark...even to the non forum-warriors.
If the Army wants eSports (see the R&R forum), they should obviously pair AA5 with their eSports initiative. SUre, AA5 will never be as big as DOTA, LoL, CSGO. But there's some sweet marketing potential to bring a team of real life Army gamers to these festivals/conventions and host small-scale events/tournaments that often occur with the less popular games. Like an undercard to a boxing main event, AAPG could start making the rounds at Dreamhack and whatnot with CSGO, LoL and DOTA2 headliners.
How sweet would it be to have 5 Army dudes in uniform walk up on the stage, greet the crowd and hang around after the match for some PR? You're welcome.
It's seems perfectly obvious to me that that is exactly what's driving AA5, Doogle.
I don't trust the government, and especially not the DoD, to do what is obvious
I think my biggest concern looking at this personally is that the AA franchise risks becoming a COD clone and losing its unique identity. I've been digging into the various other games as best I can to try and understand the playing field. I'm running out of hard drive space................
What could a new AA version bring to the market that is DIFFERENT but interesting and captivating for retention (and gives the Army value)? I don't feel we're getting that kind of feedback here from the comp oriented crowd, who instead seem to want CS/COD with an AA branding on it.
Honestly, I don't find CoD to be a good comp game and I try to avoid any CoD comparisons when possible.
And I try to show examples for one of the most successful comp game ever ..csgo.. Because although some dont like the game, there are many great things to take from csgo.
Cause honestly i dont want a COD clone either.
So, fill in the blanks. What can the AA franchise add to FPS gaming that would be DIFFERENT enough to justify its existence instead of us just playing one of those other games?
-hyperlite- Posts: 102Player
I don’t think there is much the franchise can do, anything that gets designed will be doomed within a couple months of release when people see the speed of government restraints.
I do think there's a need for a competitive ADS shooter that's less structured than R6 Siege. Go from there.
Casual shooters don't sell on PC unless you're Fortnite (and even there you can say that there's a decent sized skill curve). So where else do you go?
I'm guessing a proper Army flavor but without such a slow tactical ARMA/SQUAD thing going on. So......AAPG but with more Army content and better mechanics? There's a lot about AAPG that's pretty close (considering we're playing on a 10 year old engine!) and some things that we all think need improving.
AA3!!
Without the latency triggered buggs and issues
(as a concept AA3 was/is far "better" than AA:PG, but might have been to much)
Releasing a well-tested, fully developed game should be the requirement. None of this stalled, long drawn out open beta then incredibly slow incremental update nonsense. That killed the population of AA years ago. If the studio works slowly based on manpower, so be it. But then keep the game private until finished.
Changes to netcode, recoil, and that sort of thing should not happen after release. Just new maps, new training missions, unlockables (like AA2 maps, not like air strikes), etc.
I liked the mission/training progression of AA2 in principle, even though it didn't affect the way I played, or even where I played. After my first soldier, it was kind of a pain in the buttocks to go through the training.
1) boot camp. Learning basic movements of your pawn, get yelled at by some CGI drill instructor. Sit through some short (skippable after maybe 30 secs) modules about whatever the Army values. Take curriculum directly from the Army BMT classrooms. Progress through to weapons training/familiarization.
Limited maps and load outs are unlocked.
2) Adv Training 1. Blah blah blah blah. Some advanced techniques (more video game than real life) that teach mechanics and strategies like cover/conce
idk, personally I like games where you get new stuff as you go along. Obviously the main mechanics of the game need to be fleshed out early rather than frequently changing throughout development, but many great games have started with a more bare bones feature set and evolved from there. It gets you excited to look forward to the next patch where new features will be added.
aaHollywood Posts: 372Developer
I think you're both correct!
Overall, I think the mechanics are solid, but I still have to harp on the skill curve. Need to expand that.
Make movement more fluid/quick so that sprint is not so constantly needed (I think sprint around so often in this game). I'm not about making the game super fast, actually I do think it needs to be slower overall. However, fast movement gives the player more control, which is a good thing. The way you slow the game down is through action speeds, faster time to kill, things like that. Honestly, I wouldn't be opposed to increasing TTK by a single shot on top of what we have in AAPG.
Figure out a risk reward system for most actions. Performing an action should typically give you a benefit, but also present some sort of drawback. The movement and lean example is one. I also think that action speeds should be slower and more deliberate. Reloading should take longer, switching weapons should take longer (pistol can be fast), switching back and forth to grenades should take longer. If I run out of ammo, my main course of action should be to get to cover and reload, if I can't do that then I should have to resort to my pistol or secondary. In AAPG it's rare where switching to your second weapon is needed. Throwing a grenade should have a penalty of taking an extra moment to switch back to your primary, especially if you intend grenades to be as lethal or close to it as they are now. These kinds of things are so important. If you have an action that benefits a player, there should be drawback even if it's not a massive one. Slowing down all of these actions would also slow down game play a bit. which is perfectly fine. Just because you move faster, doesn't mean that the game play needs to be at a blazing speed.
Same goes with the breathing. The figure 8 thing is actually pretty decent, I just wish they included that stop at the top and bottom and really increased the harshness of it. Being near a teammate can reduce it, being still, being prone, etc. Including the stop and bottom allows players to time their shots to the pattern. I'd also say to get rid of the hold breath function if you do this. If you want to include it, then have holding your breath outside of the natural cycles cause a penalty of some sort. Also, include a penalty depending on which scope you use. Higher powered scope = more penalty. Sniping shouldn't be as easy as it is in AAPG. Snipers should need to mount/go prone to make shooting easier. Again, slowing things down, making things more challenging. Mounting and dismounting should take time as well, look at how AA2 did it. Risk & Reward.
Actually another part to add on to this is something I've seen in sniper games. In AA2 we had CEM to tell you how your environment, health, etc. would affect your accuracy and ability to aim. Sniper games have a heart rate function that serves a similar purpose. Being shot at raises your heart rate. Sprinting raises your heart rate, heck even movement raises your heart rate. All sorts of things like that. The higher your heart rate, the more difficult it is to aim your weapon and things like that. Obviously being injured would raise your hurt rate as well. Would be a nice way to add that sort of immersive type of function to the game.
It's funny, if you look at AA2, the game was slow, but it worked well competitively because whether the Dev team intended it or not, most actions came with a trade-off. I remember so well that if you were on the opposite side of the door for an enemy and you go to a stale mate, there was such a meta there. Someone pulls out a grenade, suddenly you think they're going to toss one at you, you charge in, but they change back to their primary blow you away. On the flip side, they pull out a grenade and go to toss it at you, the slower speed of the actions allows you to charge in before they can switch back to the primary and kill them. Not having back up makes throwing that grenade so risky. All sorts of things like that occurred more frequently.
[Dev]Whiplash
Oh, another interesting idea that I thought of would be a type of create your soldier type thing like Madden or any of those other games. You'd get out of bootcamp with the stock points for each category. Give players time to get a feel for the game. Then one you reach a certain rank (PFC or SPC) the player is given a chance to reallocate their points to different ability categories to make their soldier fit their play style. Once you set your points you can't edit them again until you get promoted to the next level.
Some ideas for categories:
Marksmanship - The ability to hold your rifle steady (sway)
Weapon Control - ability to control recoil
Stealth - How loud your footsteps are
Athleticism - How fast you move, vault, and get fatigued. Maybe how far you can throw grenades.
Bravery - How much you are affected by being shot at and being injured
Leadership - Extends the range of a player's influence over his teammates (doesn't need to be as close) and the extent of that influence (reducing penalties).
If players wish for one category to be increased, they have to drop another one. There could also be a variable to set all players to the standard numbers for competition if needed.
Hey.I.Have.A.Gun Posts: 641Player
So in this situation, a player would have the same number of points to use regardless of rank? That's the only way I could see this work.
If you earn more points as you rank up, I wouldn't like it. I'm not sure I like it as I understand it, but it's interesting. It's a level playing field in the sense that everyone has the same number of points to work with, but some players will be stronger in certain areas than others depending on point allocation.
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Report: Jets Could Look to Deal Bell and Adams This Off Season
By JetNation, December 11, 2019 in New York Jets Message Board
JetNation 5,260
While the New York Jets are in need of several upgrades on offense (and a couple spots on defense), there’s a rumor making the rounds that say the team could look to move arguably their top player on each side of the ball in running back Le’Veon Bell and safety/edge rusher Jamal Adams this off season.
It’s a topic we’ve discussed regularly on JetNation Radio ever since the NFL trade deadline saw both Adams and Bell come up in trade talks, but now it’s coming from a person that SNY refers to as an insider in Ralph Vacchiano. Whether or not Vacciano is plugged in or is just taking a guess is neither here nor there, because dealing either one or both players makes sense for a few reasons.
In the case of Bell, the Jets are hamstrung with a head coach who can’t figure out a way to get him involved in the offense. Adam Gase didn’t want Bell to begin with and he showed the world this weekend that he has no issues running the football as long as Bell isn’t suited up. Bell might be one of the most dynamic offensive players in the NFL, but that doesn’t mean Adam Gase has to give him the football if his game plan doesn’t call for it.
Given the fact that he had last season off and has only carried the ball on a part-time basis this year, you have to believe Bell has a few good seasons left in him. The Jets could move on from him and find a runner that Gase can use while adding a third round pick in exchange for Bell while likely picking up a chunk of his salary.
Meanwhile, Adams did plenty of damage to his own reputation as a leader in the locker room when he publicly bashed his GM for picking up the phone when the Dallas Cowboys made a trade offer at the deadline. In the days that followed, multiple reports claimed that the Jets made no calls to shop Adams, but the safety continued to tell the media that the team was actively shopping him. After a few acrimonious days, Adams met with team officials and has played nice ever since.
It wouldn’t be beyond the realm of possibility that the Jets learned of Adams’ desire to play for the Dallas Cowboys and suggested he play at a level that would entice Dallas (or some other club) to give up what the Jets would consider fair value. Ever since Adams met with Jets brass he’s been lighting up the stat sheet and praising his head coach and GM for whom he had previously voiced a lack of trust.
Adams is a rare player who has the ability to get to the quarterback, stuff the run and cover out of the slot and on the boundary from time to time. He might be the only player in the NFL who can do all of those things at the level he does them. That being said, if the Jets aren’t looking to pay Adams somewhere in the $15 million per year range, that could be an additional driving force in considering a deal.
Should Joe Douglas find a taker for Adams and Bell, he would likely be heading in to draft day with at least one first round pick and a pair of third rounders, giving him the opportunity to re-build his offensive line while trying to find an edge rusher and cornerback.
Should be an interesting off-season, Jets fans.
The post Report: Jets Could Look to Deal Bell and Adams This Off Season appeared first on JetNation.com (NY Jets Blog & Forum).
Click here to read the full story...
when a team is 5-8 and possibly heading to 5-11 there aren't many keepers and usually quite a few holes. these trade rumors shouldn't surprise anyone although losing young proven players for the crap shoot that is the draft must be carefully considered.
Click bait story. Of course they open to making deals if the price is right. The timing for signing Bell with no Oline was stupid in hindsight, and Adams, though a top safety doesn't move the needle enough to warrant a 15 million dollar salary.
I loved Parcells take on the media in NY...Subversive from within. That's why NY is a tough place to play. The fans themselves are incredibly critical & the media wants nothing but turmoil. These guys go from kissing the coaches azzes to wanted them hung in the town square..and that's week to week.
Charlie Brown 7,344
We Just Getting Started.....
LocationNew York City
Yea let the Jets get rid of two of the best players the Jets have had in over a generation for essentially a HC who was fired for mediocre results elsewhere...hmmmm sounds about right to me...
Long Island Leprechaun 1,632
17 minutes ago, rangerous said:
True. Based on the averages for third round picks, it would be pretty safe to assume that the Jets may get one starter out of two picks if they're very good at drafting. So in effect, they would be giving one of these players away for essentially nothing. I was in the camp for giving Gase a chance, but I have to say that his handling of Bell has been absolutely terrible. Bell has three outstanding talents: he's a great runner, with patience, he has excellent hands as a receiver, and he's one of the best blocking RB's in the league. So the OL is terrible, taking away one of those talents. Why on earth isn't Gase using Bell as a receiving back far more precisely to offset the incompetence of the OL? It appears as if Gase is being spiteful rather than smart. He's not going to make Bell a success, since he wasn't his man. That's patently idiotic and petty. I hope I'm wrong, but based on the play calling I've seen, I fear it's correct.
20 minutes ago, Long Island Leprechaun said:
bell has 55 catches and has been thrown to 67 times so far. he's not being that ignored. he's getting about 15 touches per game and he probably needs 20-25 to be effective. i don't think gase is being spiteful it's just that he's trying to run his scheme and right now it's not a good fit for bell.
1 hour ago, rangerous said:
Every GM overestimates his drafting prowess. You want a GM with that kind of confidence but as you wisely state, we must consider carefully.
Warfish 24,090
The Master Debater
54 minutes ago, Charlie Brown said:
Yea let the Jets get rid of two of the best players the Jets have had in over a generation...
Except they’re not.
You know I’m no Gase fan, but let’s not overstate these two guys value.
Sammybighead 307
Not buying this with Adams, he’s their best pass rusher.
bell on the other hand...
I must defend the head coach here as I do not believe it's his fault. Seriously I think it's a catch-22 so hear me out.
I think that every defense knows that when Le'Veon Bell is on the field he's getting the ball. So basically all they have to do is Rush behind the line and try to stuff him and or smother Sam Darnold.
We don't have the power blocking scheme that the Steelers had not even close. So putting number 26 on the field basically hinders our chances of moving the ball forward. With a mediocre to poor offensive line and no real other offensive weapons, we might as well just put the quarterback and running back out there alone.
Again it's just blatantly obvious when he gets on the field oh, they pitch him the ball and he gets swarmed and goes nowhere. I don't think it's that the coach doesn't want to use him, I think football is about deception, bluffing and surprises. When you put Bell on the field you basically just show your hand and we don't have the troops to take defenses head-on and play Smash Mouth football.
shawn306 36,023
Arbitration Eligible
Unless the Jets get the moon for Adams or Adams goes off the deep end.I can't see them trading him
I can't see anyone shelling out alot for Bell based on this year. Can't cut him because the dead money would be too much
So unless the Jets are willing to take nickles on the dollar I don't see Bell going anywhere either
19 minutes ago, Greenbloodblitz said:
Great point. And with their 3rd QB the Steelers & that good offensive line are in the playoff hunt. Bell is a luxury without enough return. His contract would be better served giving it to Scherff & drafting a RB or signing a much cheaper veteran. I love Adams determination on the field but the only way you get the most compensation is trading him now under his rookie deal. Once a team has to give picks & a contract? Forget it.
Im sorry but I don't want to pay a safety 15 million ever.
Morrissey 12,685
The poster formerly known as Tyler Durden
Do it. Team needs as many draft picks as it can get.
Gibby 251
Totally agree. His style doesn’t work at all with the way this team is presently constructed. He makes a ton of money and will be hard to move. For that reason I wouldn’t be at all shocked if he’s back next year. But NO. It’s not an ego or a personal thing that he’s being used the way he is.
Ben Had 75
With the contract Bell has the Jets would probably have to give the team trading for him at least a 3rd round draft pick.
He'll stay a Jet.
Jethead 1,078
House Dick-Mars Hotel
Let's trade our two best players so we can get better. After all, the draft is easy to figure out. Would be classically stupid if you ask me
More and more evidence is piling up that Gase is toxic and must go.
Jetsfan80 97,383
1 minute ago, Jethead said:
The draft is a lot easier to nail when your GM isn't a glorified area scout who never will have a job of significance in the NFL ever again.
with top tier OL and wr prospects, you have to wonder if that will tip the scales in trying to trade adams. the jets could use 2 first rounders on a LT and wr and still have 3 day 2 picks. the offense could be completely transformed in one offseason.
Jet Nut 10,097
LocationManalapan, NJ ~ Boca Raton, Fl
4 minutes ago, Ben Had said:
Pretty much not the case.
His contract isn't a detriment,
ScarletKnight89 1,929
Trading Adams would be a mistake.
KINGDIRK 754
5th Round Flyer
What Round draft pick do people think Bell will Net us? No more than a 4th rounder IMO
More Cowbell 1,786
Mental Midget
I think the best thing the Jets have going for them right now is JD hasn't drafted anyone so there are no bad picks to point out as you can point to in some FA acquisitions. We are talking about getting a third round pick for a proven player. It isn't frequent you get third round picks with Bell's talent level. What has been pointed out in thos article is Bell isn't the problem, it's Gase's inability to properly use him. That is more a reason to change plays to ones that suit Bell, not get rid of him. Bell didn't put on a Jets uniform and forgot how to run a football. AAMOF, we have seen the same brillance on some plays that Bell had in Pit.
There is no need to trade Bell or Adams. Bell helps Sam, Adams helos the pass rush. We can't do without either.
slimjasi 3,710
The Jets could do a lot of things.
Not much of a report.
Just now, More Cowbell said:
There is no need to trade Bell or Adams. Bell helps Sam, Adams helps the pass rush. We can't do without either.
Only moderately. And by helping out in the pass rush, he puts added strain on the secondary.
We need pass rushers to be pass rushers, and Safeties to be Safeties. We also need a brand new Offensive Line. That need outweighs anything Adams brings to the table. Get the right package of picks and we absolutely CAN do without the great Jamal Adams.
4 minutes ago, KINGDIRK said:
Since there wasn't much of a market last offseason for Le'Veon when he was a year younger and available on the open market, I can't imagine there being much of a trade market for him 1 year later coming off a bad season (even if it isn't his fault).
A late 3rd is about the best we could hope for.
Adams is really the only trade of significance I could see happening in the offseason. I doubt Bell is going anywhere. The same is likely true for Quinnen Williams.
2 minutes ago, Jetsfan80 said:
Well at this point he can rap and bowl better then he can run the ball so you have a pretty valid point there.
slats 103,418
Lacing the Kool-aid with tequila
Called this a couple months ago.
playtowinthegame 2,541
PLAYOFF MANDATE IN 2020
LocationSyracuse, NY
I would only trade Jamal Adam's for a blockbuster deal that brings back a 1st and a 2nd round pick in 2020.
Next trade Bell for a 3rd round pick. Now the Jets pick twice in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd rounds. That's six draft picks in the top 100.
dbatesman 45,855
Jets Ahole
7 hours ago, JetNation said:
safety/edge rusher Jamal Adams
11 minutes ago, KINGDIRK said:
I'd hope for a third, but you may be right. Mac bid against only himself when he paid Bell.
10 minutes ago, Jetsfan80 said:
It depends how you bring him. S doesn't have a player they are assigned to, they read the O and make a decision to play run, drop, or rush. Adams has made the right choice more so than the wrong one so i really don't think the pass coverage is suffering because he is rushing.
Also my point is the closest thing we have to a pass rusher is Jenkins and that is pretty sad. We can't give up on the best pass rusher we have. You create a new hole to fill another.
3 minutes ago, More Cowbell said:
Here's an alternative thought: Have our GM find a new pass rusher to compliment Jordan Jenkins? Crazy idea, I know.
Jamal being our best pass rusher is not a sustainable plan. Nor is eventually paying him $15M+ a year to handle that role.
Jet Life 1,115
Should trade both. Draft is loaded with WRs and RBs. Replace Bell with Swift/Etienne/Taylor in the 2nd if we get a 2 for Bell. Dobbins and Harris look good too
11 minutes ago, playtowinthegame said:
Could walk away with an explosive WR, RB and some OL with this haul. No brainer.
peekskill68 1,210
2 hours ago, rangerous said:
I agree. Watching Powell against the Fins, he seemed more effective at just hitting the hole and getting what was there. Bell's style requires the OL hold their blocks longer and we don't have the talent for that...
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wildthing
wildthing last won the day on July 19 2012
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About wildthing
Burning Mac Home Folders To Blu-Ray Data Discs: Problems Galore
wildthing replied to wildthing's question in Toast 11
Yep, that might work as well, I haven't tried that. I only have one Mac, however when I clone my system HD using SuperDuper, the clone is bootable. So another solution might be to boot from the cloned HD, and then burn the primary HD to disc. I haven't tried that either. I've only tried burning the cloned HD to disc while booted into the primary HD. But if it works, then the general principle would be as you say, avoid burning from the HD you booted into.
home directories
-43 error
hanging at 99% bug
Thank you for your reply Eugene. Well it depends what we mean by "backup", but burning data discs (as opposed to video/audio) is one of Toast's advertised features and I would assume people do this for backup/archiving purposes. There are other applications specifically designed for backup – but none of them can back up to optical discs as far as I'm aware. All the consumer backup Mac OS X applications I've tried/used either back up to hard disk, or the cloud. Before I bought Toast, I did actually try using Mac OS X's built-in data disc authoring capability in Finder.app, as this worked fine for me previously with data CDs and DVDs. However it would not work with my Blu-ray drive (a Pioneer BDR-206DBK in a USB enclosure). It recognized the drive and said "Writing track 1" for about 10 minutes and then ejected the disk saying: "The disc can’t be burned because the disc drive is not accessible (error code 0x80020020)." When I got in touch with the vendor of the drive, a data archiving specialist (http://imagestore.co.uk), they were very helpful and they basically said all their clients use Toast for authoring data Blu-ray discs on the Mac platform. This is how I came to use Toast — and for all its faults, Toast did enable me to overcome this particular error. So — it looks like if you want to backup/archive data to Blu-ray on the Mac OS X platform, Toast is the only game in town right now. There still is — it's called "Get Backup 2" from Belight Software. When I first experienced the Toast issues, I wondered if I should be using Get Backup 2 instead. There are actually a total of 7 apps in the Toast 11 Titanium bundle but no obvious place to find an overall summary of what each app does, or guidance along the lines of "if you're trying to do task X, use app Y". So I didn't know if I should be using Toast or Get Backup 2 to backup my Mac home directories. However the Get Backup 2 user interface specifically mentions e-mails and other items which are stored in Mac OS X system folders, so I thought — maybe this product is actually designed to be able to deal with the system folders within Mac OS X home directories? The bundled version is "Get Backup 2 RE" which does not natively support burning to optical discs, however it can integrate with Toast to burn optical discs. You can also upgrade to the full version for $9.95 which natively supports burning backups to optical discs (http://www.belightso...oxioedition.php). I tried both, and in case it's of any help to anyone else thinking of going down this path, here are my experiences using Get Backup 2 (both RE and Full versions) to back up Mac OS X home directories to optical disc, which I tried in order to overcome the -43 errors I was getting with Toast. This is the same text I reported to technical support in late 2011, based on Get Backup 2 version 2.4.7. Some of these issues may have been fixed since then, although I'm doubtful. 1. The Toast start-up wizard prevents Get Backup 2 RE from launching toast. When you configure Get Backup 2 RE to use Toast to burn a disc, it fails to work at all if the Toast start-up wizard is enabled. Unfortunately the start-up wizard in Toast is enabled by default, so with the default settings it doesn't work. You have to disable the Startup Wizard in Toast, before Get Backup is able to launch Toast to burn a disc. 2. Get Backup 2 RE fails preserve the correct disc name when it invokes Toast. For example, if you carefully name your backup "BD-R-2011-09-11a" in Get Backup, then when it launches Toast the disc name becomes "Backup Disc 1", and there's apparently no way to change it. 3. Get Backup 2 RE dumps all your data in a single gigantic tar file, which Toast then burns to disc. For me, this is not acceptable — I don't know how resiliant the "tar" format is to corruption; for all I know one small corruption on the disc could make the entire tar file unreadable. I want individual files to remain as individual files on the disc itself in an HFS+ filesystem, as with Toast. 4. Get Backup 2 Full version does not support native burning to Blu-ray discs. After through the whole "Preparing" and "Building" process, it then says: "The inserted disc is not a CD or DVD". For this reason, the $9.95 upgrade (paid to Belight, not Roxio) was a complete waste of money for me. At this point I gave up on Get Backup 2 entirely, and went back to Toast, and then I eventually found the workaround to the -43 error in Toast, described above. Thanks, this is useful — and also good to know I'm not the only one suffering.
wildthing started following Burning Mac Home Folders To Blu-Ray Data Discs: Problems Galore July 18, 2012
wildthing posted a question in Toast 11
For some time I've been using/attempting to use Toast to make backups of my Mac OS X home directories to Blu-ray data discs. The reason for wanting to make a backup of entire home directories is that the OS X system folders within the users' home directories contain important stuff like e-mails, bookmarks, calendar, address book, as well as hidden application data and preferences and so on -- naturally, stuff you'd want to back up. Along the way I've come across many different issues and some workarounds which I thought I'd share on here. Some of these are known and previously discussed issues (that is, they're known on these forums, not apparently to technical support). 1. Random "-43" errors while trying to backup home OS X directories While trying to backup Mac OS X home directories, I was getting random "-43" errors, especially for files in the user's "Library" system folder, for example: The file "com.apple. …… .plist" could not be accessed (Data fork, -43) Result Code -43 The file "8B554403-AFA1-4F72#11CD138.data" could not be accessed. (Data fork, -43) Couldn't complete the last command because a file couldn't be found. Result Code = -43 I found that these -43 errors are all over the Roxio support forums with no solution. Creating a disc image or temporary partition did not help. I tried speaking to Roxio support but they didn't have any idea, nor could they tell me whether Toast officially supports backing up Mac OS X home directories or not in principle. Workaround: I eventually managed to workaround this issue by using the Mac disk-to-disk backup application SuperDuper! (http://www.shirt-poc...com/SuperDuper/) to clone my system HD to another backup HD, and then using Toast to burn a BD-R from the backup HD, instead of the original HD. I suspect this may work because SuperDuper excludes a whole bunch of transient and temporary system files that cannot be (and don't need to be) backed up - you can see that from the SuperDuper logs. Maybe Toast just isn't smart enough to do this on its own. 2. The "hanging at 99%" bug Sometime later I updated Toast from 11.0.4 to 11.0.6, and then tried to make another backup of my home directory to BD (of course using the SuperDuper clone of my home directories, rather than the actual live home directories, to avoid the -43 error). Then, I repeatedly got the "hanging at 99%" bug where it writes up 99% progress and then just hangs. Even when I tried copying to a disc image (.toast file) instead of an actual blu-ray disc, it still hung at 99%. Again I find that this issue is all over the forums, with no real fix. 3. Verification errors with the 11.1 beta So to avoid the "hanging at 99%" bug, one of the threads suggested that I try the Toast 11.1 Beta, so I downloaded and installed the beta 11.1.0a1(35) from the link given in that forum thread, and this time was able to burn the entire disc successfully - no hanging at 99% - however, it failed on verification with the following error: Mismatch at byte 0/sector 5391379. Verification failed. At first I thought this was due to bad media, but then this happened two more times - generating 3 consecutive coasters, each with the exact same verification error. I hardly ever got verification errors with 11.0.4 or 11.0.6 - certainly never 3 in a row - so I concluded this MUST be an issue with the Toast beta, and not with my media. Workaround: In the end I resolved this by downgrading(!) to 11.0.4. One of the forum threads said that the "hanging at 99%" issue did /not/ occur with 11.0.4, and that it was an earlier bug which actually re-appeared in 11.0.6. So I actually managed to avoid both the "hanging at 99%" error (which occured with 11.0.6) and the verification errors (which occured with the 11.1 beta) by downgrading Toast to 11.0.4. Surprisingly, the Roxio downloads page shows 11.0.4 is the only version there. I'm not sure why that is, seeing as 11.0.6 is the latest version according to the "Check for Updates" within the app itself. But anyway, this enabled me to "downgrade" my Toast installation to 11.0.4. This has finally allowed me to burn my home directory to BD again. So, yes, I eventually got it working again in the end. 4. Toast can only burn files belonging to the user who is currently logged in This is not a bug, more a feature request. I waste a lot of disc space because I could fit multiple users home directories on one BD, but I can't do this easily because Toast doesn't support it (it gives permission errors if you try). Other backup tools don't have this limitation. For example, I use SuperDuper! and JungleDisk which can both see ALL users' files and back them up. I'm assuming they install themselves with a form of run-as-root (a.k.a. setuid) privilege so they can backup files belonging to all users on the system. I know that SuperDuper backs up to disk, and JungleDisk backs up to the cloud, whereas Toast backs up to optical media. That's not the point; they're all backup tools, and the others have this feature whereas Toast does not. As a backup tool it would be nice if Toast could do this. Just a thought. Tech support: intense frustration I spent many hours dealing with the bugs and issues but I wasted even greater number of hours speaking to Roxio technical support which was really one of the worst tech support experiences I've ever had in my life. I know this is probably typical for many tech support these days, but these guys just bombard you with an endless sequence of almost completely random "try this" suggestions most of which bear no relation to the actual problem. They never show any inkling that part of their job might be to report bugs to their engineering team so they might eventually get fixed. The future I doubt if I can use 11.0.4 forever - at some point I'll probably need to upgrade. If anyone from Roxio reads this: it would be nice if a future version of Toast doesn't have these bugs, and can be used to backup Mac OS X home directories?
Extended Attributes Lost On Bd-R Data Backup Even With Mac Only
Yes, although according to the Wikipedia HFS+ page, the data is stored there only if they're inline data attributes, while for other data types it holds pointers to the blocks that hold the actual data. But we're straying too far into the internal implementation details of HFS+ - it should be of no concern to us where HFS+ physically stores the data; what matters is that logically speaking, Mac OS X "extended attributes" are metadata associated with each individual file. Also "file attributes" is an ambiguous term, I think we're talking about OS X "extended attributes" which were introduced in Tiger. Not quite - according to the following article, resource forks used to be a separate fork, but this implementation has now been phased out, and now some of the data that was in the old resource fork is now stored in the data fork (i.e. is part of the file and affects the file size), while other resource fork data is now stored as an extended attribute under the key “com.apple.ResourceFork” (which, like other extended attributes does NOT affect the file size): http://jonsview.com/mac-os-x-resource-forks. Anyway, interesting as this is , resource forks aren't the issue in my case, because is seems that Toast is preserving the “com.apple.ResourceFork” extended attribute. What Toast is not preserving is the "com.apple.TextEncoding" extended attribute. I'm not sure why you'd need to do that. The source and the destination are both HFS+ already, it should just work. I might raise a Roxio support request / bug report, just to see what happens.
Thanks - that's interesting. I did some experiments with the "xattr" command and found my original text files do seem to contain some extended attributes which Toast did not preserve. For example, on this text file which happens to be called "useful" there's an extended attribute specifying the encoding: $ xattr useful com.apple.TextEncoding $ xattr -p com.apple.TextEncoding useful utf-8;134217984 But the same file on the BD-R burned by Toast doesn't contain any extended attributes: $ xattr useful $ I'm pretty sure Mac OS X extended attributes are a type of metadata stored as part of the file itself, not in some central look-up table. Strangely, there are some other extended attributes which Toast does seem to be preserving: if I select just one source file in Finder and click Get Info > Open With and choose a different text editor e.g. TextWrangler.app - in other words change the file association for just that one file, not the default for its file type - then the file acquires a new extended attribute it didn't have before: $ xattr test com.apple.ResourceFork Now, I know resource forks are deprecated and Apple are moving everyone to using filename extensions instead - I'm sure you're right on that. Nevertheless I happened to have some mp3's which have per-file assocations, and this time Toast successfully preserved these and other extended attributes in the BD-R. On one mp3 I get the following result on the original file and on the optical disk: $ xattr song.mp3 com.apple.FinderInfo com.apple.ResourceFork Still, my text files don't have either of these extended attributes - they just have one called "com.apple.TextEncoding". I wonder if _this_ is how Mac OS X knows they're text files and associates them with TextEdit? In general, I was under the impression that other types of extended attributes (besides resource forks) were NOT deprecated and Mac OS X uses them for a lot of cool things, such as remembering that a file might be unsafe because it was downloaded from the internet, etc. I thought it was just resource forks that are deprecated, which are just one type of extended attribute (but my understanding could be completely wrong.) For this reason my expectation would be for Toast to simply preserve ALL extended attributes, so I'm not sure why it hasn't preserved "com.apple.TextEncoding". Still, not a big deal. Thanks, this helps.
Hi, I just purchased Toast 11 for making BD-R data backups, and made my first disk this morning. I selected format "Mac Only" to ensure it preserves all the file metadata and extended attributes etc. On my original disk, I have a lot of text files with no filename extension e.g. "car" (not "car.txt"), which appear in Finder with a document icon. If I right click one and choose Get Info, the file type is shown as "Kind: Document" - and if I double click it opens in TextEdit.app. These files were created simply by saving from TextEdit with that filename. However after doing the backup, the same files on the BD-R have a black Unix terminal icon; if I right click and choose Get Info, the file type is shown as "Kind: Unix Executable File" - and if I double click it opens in Terminal.app and then immediately closes. Of course I can open it in TextEdit by right clicking and choosing Open With > TextEdit, but then I find it's not displaying correctly, for example a bullet "•" is displayed as "‚Ä¢", which suggests the character encoding has got lost as well as the file type. By choosing File > Save As I can see that on the original file, the character encoding was "Unicode (UTF-8)", but on the BD-R backup it's changed to "Western (Mac OS Roman)". Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong? I thought by choosing "Mac Only" in Toast, I'd get a filesystem formatted with "HFS+" a.k.a. "Mac OS Extended", which is identical to my source data, with all my filesystem metadata (extended attributes, resource forks, etc) preserved, but this isn't happening.
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Following report of death, John Singleton’s representatives say he’s still in a coma
Posted 7:27 am, April 29, 2019, by CNN Wire and FOX 4 Newsroom, Updated at 09:34AM, April 29, 2019
LOS ANGELES -- The family of director John Singleton told FOX4 film critic Shawn Edwards early Monday that Singleton has died, however, Singleton's representatives say he is still in a medically induced coma.
NEW YORK - OCTOBER 25: John Singleton attends the premiere of "For Colored Girls" at Ziegfeld Theatre on October 25, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)
Singleton has been in a coma after suffering a major stroke more than a week ago.
Singleton's family had previously confirmed he suffered a stroke on April 17 but did not elaborate on his condition.
Singleton, 51, who was the first black filmmaker nominated for the best director Oscar award, is known for films like "Boyz n the Hood" and "Poetic Justice."
A show he co-created for the FX Network, "Snowfall," was renewed last year for a third season.
Singleton's peers and colleagues have expressed their affection.
"Showing love/support for a fellow black director from LA," Ava DuVernay wrote in a tweet. "He is a lovely man. Pray with me."
Filed in: Entertainment, News
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‘It gives us a glimmer of hope’: Local group reacts to KCK Police Chief Terry Zeigler’s retirement
Posted 10:39 pm, July 10, 2019, by Sharifa Jackson, Updated at 10:53PM, July 10, 2019
KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Some of the most vocal critics of Kansas City, Kansas Police Chief Terry Zeigler are speaking out following news of his retirement.
The group, MORE2, who is responsible for multiple protests and community meetings over the past few months.
"It gives us a glimmer of hope," said Community Organizer and Leader for MORE2, Khadijah Hardaway.
The group said they believe they had some impact on the chief's decision to retire.
In early June, the group calling for the immediate termination of the chief, organizing a protest in downtown KCK, attended by dozens.
The group says they are fighting for what they say it decades of misconduct" by the KCKPD.
But even in light of this announcement, the group says they still have a long way to go.
"It`s a very small victory, when we address the magnitude of the problem within the police department and the authority they carry, it`s a small victory. We have a long fight ahead of us," Hardaway said.
The group, MORE2 often pointing to the case of Lamonte Mcintyre, who was exonerated following a 23-year sentence for a murder he didn't commit.
McIntyre and his mother, Rose also filed a lawsuit claiming a former detective tried to force Rose into a sexual relationship, and when she refused, he framed her son, Lamonte for murder.
The lawsuit is still pending.
"It's been an immense reaction to Lamonte's case, I continue to see it to this day," Mcintyre's attorney Cheryl Pilate said.
While Pilate said she and her client are not directly involved with the group more squared, they encourage people to speak up.
"I think it`s important for people to know, if they come together, and speak with a strong voice, it is possible to be heard by a governmental agency, sometimes we lose that belief, that accountability is possible, and achieving change it possible," said Pilate.
The group says they will continue to push their initiatives. They are still fighting for an independent investigation into the KCK Police Department, and hoping for transparency with hiring the new chief.
They are also continuing to push their hotline: 913-228-3007. They hope their new hotline will offer a place where survivors can share their stories and be connected to the appropriate services.
In a full statement, the group says:
Yesterday, Leaders with Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity (MORE2) met with Wyandotte County Unified Government Mayor David Alvey to reiterate their demands for police accountability, first of which was the dismissal of KCK Chief of Police Terry Zeigler, due to a long patter of disregard and cover up towards instances of sexual violence perpetrated by law enforcement officers. Today, Chief Zeigler announced his retirement, effective this fall.
MORE2 celebrates the opportunity a change of leadership offers the Kansas City, KS community to begin the process of moving forward and establishing a new era of trust between the entire community and law enforcement.
We are hopeful that the Mayor hears the outcry of the community and will move forward with further accountability reforms like calling for an independent and outside investigation, establishing a bilingual hotline that is fully independent of the police department, and instructing KCKPD to cease extra and unnecessary restrictions on processing U-visas.
We are also hopeful, given the cloud of mistrust and need to chart a new path, that the Mayor will recognize the need to hire from outside the KCKPD with a record of transparency and accountability when looking for the next chief.
Today is a victory for survivors of sexual violence in Wyandotte County, and MORE2 is proud to stand alongside them in the ongoing fight for justice.
Faith leaders launch hotline for victims of police sexual violence in response to KCK allegations
Funds for WyCo Conviction Integrity Unit head to vote; community leaders urge approval
Kanasas City police take action to strengthen community relations
‘I’ve done nothing wrong’: KCK police chief’s retirement comes as questions remain on ‘double dipping’ allegations
Topics: Nightside
15 and the Mahomies awards $15,000 in grants to 15 local groups at inaugural gala
1,400 steak meals served to metro first responders for Christmas
Local car enthusiasts plan to join funeral procession for Missouri teen who lost cancer fight
‘Go Chiefs!’ This 1965 Chiefs Cheerleader is still just as spunky as she was 54 years ago
Metro police warn of holiday saleswoman stealing from seniors’ homes
New Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy learned passion, leadership skills at local Baker University
‘She had a lot of life left’: Lexington family mourns 16-year-old killed in rollover crash
Kansas City group spends Christmas Eve passing out hot meals, gift bags to homeless
Changing perceptions, KC group looks at gun ownership through eyes of black community
Kansas City police preparing for security ahead of Chiefs AFC Championship game
Chiefs fans reflect on cutting class for 1970 Super Bowl parade, hope to relive history in 2020
‘I’ve got a crazy imagination’: Clinton woman brings Chiefs spirit to her skeleton yard displays
Chiefs fans enjoy beautiful day of tailgating but don’t get ending to game they hoped for
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Advances in Molecular Imaging
Vol.4 No.2(2014), Article ID:44875,12 pages DOI:10.4236/ami.2014.42003
FDG and Amyloid PET in Cognitively Normal Individuals at Risk for Late-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease
John Murray1, Wai H. Tsui1, Yi Li1, Pauline McHugh1, Schantel Williams1, Megan Cummings1, Elizabeth Pirraglia1, Lilja Solnes2, Ricardo Osorio1, Lidia Glodzik1, Shankar Vallabhajosula2, Alexander Drzezga3, Satoshi Minoshima4, Mony J. de Leon1, Lisa Mosconi1*
1New York University School of Medicine, New York, USA
2Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, USA
3University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
4University of Washington, Seattle, USA
Email: *lisa.mosconi@nyumc.org
Received 22 February 2014; revised 22 March 2014; accepted 29 March 2014
Having a parent affected by late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a major risk factor for cognitively normal (NL) individuals. This study explores the potential of PET with 18F-FDG and the amyloid-β (Aβ) tracer 11C-Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB) for detection of individual risk in NL adults with AD-parents. Methods: FDG− and PiB-PET was performed in 119 young to late-middle aged NL individuals including 80 NL with positive family history of AD (FH+) and 39 NL with negative family history of any dementia (FH−). The FH+ group included 50 subjects with maternal (FHm) and 30 with paternal family history (FHp). Individual FDG and PiB scans were Z scored on a voxel-wise basis relative to modality-specific reference databases using automated procedures and rated as positive or negative (+/−) for AD-typical abnormalities using predefined criteria. To determine the effect of age, the cohort was separated into younger (49 ± 9 y) and older (68 ± 5 y) groups relative to the median age (60 y). Results: Among individuals of age >60 y, as compared to controls, NL FH+ showed a higher frequency of FDG+ scans vs. FH− (53% vs. 6% p < 0.003), and a trend for PiB+ scans (27% vs. 11%; p = 0.19). This effect was observed for both FHm and FHp groups. Among individuals of age ≤60 y, NL FHm showed a higher frequency of FDG+ scans (29%) compared to FH− (5%, p = 0.04) and a trend compared to FHp (11%) (p = 0.07), while the distribution of PiB+ scans was not different between groups. In both age cohorts, FDG+ scans were more frequent than PiB+ scans among NL FH+, especially FHm (p < 0.03). FDG-PET was a significant predictor of FH+ status. Classification according to PiB status was significantly less successful. Conclusions: Automated analysis of FDG− and PiB-PET demonstrates higher rates of abnormalities in at-risk FH+ vs FH− subjects, indicating potentially ongoing early AD-pathology in this population. The frequency of metabolic abnormalities was higher than that of Aβ pathology in the younger cohort, suggesting that neuronal dysfunction may precede major aggregated Aβ burden in young NL FH+. Longitudinal follow-up is required to determine if the observed abnormalities predict future AD.
Keywords:Alzheimer’s Disease, Early Detection, Positron Emission Tomography, Amyloid Imaging, Glucose Metabolism, Normal Aging
Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the leading cause of dementia in the elderly, is a neurodegenerative disorder with insidious onset and progressive cognitive declines. Many clinical studies indicate that by the time patients come in for diagnosis, too much irreversible brain damage may have already occurred for treatments to be effective. Preventive interventions, once they are developed, ideally would be implemented long before symptoms occur. A major goal in AD research is the detection of biological markers to identify at-risk people at the earliest stages of disease when symptoms are not yet apparent.
PET imaging with 2-[18F] fluoro-2-Deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) and amyloid-beta (Aβ) tracers such as 11CPittsburgh Compound-B (PiB) and other 18F-labeled compounds are under investigation as tools to improve the early detection of AD. FDG-PET is routinely used in the early and differential diagnosis of AD and other neurodegenerative disorders, and diagnostic criteria have recently been proposed for amyloid-imaging [1] -[8] . Of relevance to the early detection of AD, characteristic abnormalities of both biomarkers have been observed years prior to clinical decline in asymptomatic, cognitively normal (NL) individuals [9] -[12] . Although Aβ plaques are one of the defining pathological features of AD [13] , a large proportion of otherwise healthy, non-demented elderly exhibit substantial Aβ burden [7] [9] [14] [15] , making the functional significance of elevated Aβ in this population unclear. FDG-PET abnormalities reflect neuronal dysfunction and correlate well with dementia severity [1] [3] [10] , although this biomarker is not as specific to AD. Examination of at-risk individuals represents an ideal way to explore the value of these two imaging modalities in the early detection of AD-typical pathology, prior to cognitive decline.
Apart from age, having a 1st degree family history of AD (FH) is a major risk factor for NL individuals [16] [17] . While the rare early-onset forms of AD have autosomal dominant genetic inheritance, the risk for late-onset AD (LOAD), which comprises over 99% of the AD population after the age of 60, is influenced by several genetic and non-genetic factors. Although LOAD does not show recognizable Mendelian inheritance, risk is to some extent genetically determined, as shown by the familial aggregation of many LOAD cases. Recent biomarker studies showed that NL with LOAD-parents, especially those with an affected mother, manifest an ADendophenotype characterized by reduced brain metabolism on FDG-PET and increased Aβ deposition on PiBPET compared to those with negative FH of AD [18] -[21] . Maternal transmission may account for up to 30% of all LOAD cases [22] . These findings suggest that PET may play a role in the early detection of AD in these individuals. However, results were based on group differences and the value of PET to assess AD-like abnormalities on an individual basis in asymptomatic people is unknown. Additionally, there are no published studies that examined individual PET scans in young adults at risk for LOAD. The goal of this study was to examine FDGand PiB-PET on a subject by subject basis in young to late-middle aged NL individuals with and without a FH of AD.
This study examined 146 prospectively recruited, clinically and cognitively normal (NL) individuals enrolled in longitudinal PET imaging studies at NYU School of Medicine between 2009 and 2013. These included individuals interested in research participation and risk consultation, self-referred individuals with cognitive complaints, spouses, family members, and caregivers of patients participating in other studies. Subjects received medical, psychiatric, neuropsychological, clinical MRI and PET exams. The study was approved by the NYU IRB. Informed consent was obtained from all subjects. Individuals with medical conditions or history of conditions that may affect brain structure or function, i.e. stroke, diabetes, head trauma, any neurodegenerative diseases, depression, hydrocephalus, intracranial mass, and infarcts on MRI, and use of psychoactive medications were excluded. Subjects were 33 - 79 years old, with education ≥12 years, Clinical Deterioration Rating (CDR) = 0, Global Deterioration Scale (GDS) ≤2, Modified Hachinski Ischemia Scale <4 and Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) ≥26. All subjects had normal cognitive test performance relative to appropriate reference values for age and education. Only individuals who completed both FDG− and PiB-PET procedures and had detailed family history information were included. A FH of LOAD that included at least one 1st degree relative whose AD onset was after age 60 was elicited by using standardized FH questionnaires [19] [21] . All participants were asked to fill in names, dates of birth, age at death, cause of death, and clinical information of all affected family members. The information was confirmed with other family members by interview with the examining neurologist, discussing the parents’ symptomatology and progression of disease. Only individuals whose parents had lived to age ≥65 were included. For those with a FH, the parents’ diagnosis of LOAD was reportedly clinician certified. Subjects were divided into FH positive and negative groups (FH+ vs FH−). We examined parent gender effects by stratifying FH+ subjects into those with maternal (i.e., FHm) and paternal FH (i.e., FHp).
2.2. PET Acquisition
Subjects received two PET scans acquired in 3D-mode on an LS Discovery [G.E. Medical Systems, Milwaukee, WI; 5.4 mm FWHM, 30 cm FOV] or a BioGraph PET/CT scanner [Siemens, Knoxville, TN; 1 mm FWHM, 25 cm FOV] following standardized procedures [18] -[20] . Briefly, before PET imaging, an antecubital venous line was positioned for isotope injection. Subjects rested with eyes open and ears unplugged in the quiet and dimly lit scan room. Subjects were positioned in the scanner using laser light beams for head alignment approximately 60 min after injection of 15 mCi of 11C-Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB) and scanned for 30 min [18] [19] . The FDG scan procedure started 30 min after the PiB scan or on a separate day. After an overnight fast, subjects were injected with 5 mCi of 2-[18F] fluoro-2-Deoxy-D-glucose (FDG), positioned in the scanner 35 min after injection, and scanned for 20 min. Prior to PET, a CT scan was acquired for attenuation correction. All images were corrected for photon attenuation, scatter, and radioactive decay, and reconstructed into a 512 × 512 matrix. The higher resolution scans were degraded to match the resolution of the LS Discovery scans using uniform resolution smoothing parameters [23] .
2.3. Image Analysis
Image analysis was performed blind to clinical data. For each subject, summed PET images corresponding to the 40 - 60 min of FDG data and to the 60 - 90 min of PiB data were generated, and coregistered to their corresponding T1-MRI using a surface-fitting algorithm [24] . Following coregistration, PET scans were processed using the iSSP35-NMP-us standard diagnostic routine of the well-established, rater-independent Neurological Statistical Image Analysis program (NEUROSTAT, University of Washington, Seattle, USA). All scans were realigned to the anterior-posterior commissure line and spatially normalized to the Talairach and Tournoux atlas using an affine transformation with 12 parameters followed by nonlinear warping, yielding a standardized image set with 2.25 mm voxels [3] [25] [26] . The spatially normalized FDG and PiB PET scans of an additional twelve NL individuals (age 42 - 80 yrs, 50% female, education >12 yrs, MMSE ≥ 28, all FH−) with FDG− and PiB− scans were used to generate an FDG and a PiB normative database [25] [26] . PET scans of each subject under study were compared with the corresponding reference database while controlling for pons activity for FDG [27] and for cerebellar uptake for PiB [28] using NEUROSTAT scaling procedures. Z scores [Z = (voxelsubject − voxel meandatabase)/voxel standard deviationdatabase] were calculated on a voxel-basis, and gray matter activities were extracted to predefined surface pixels using a three-dimensional stereotactic surface projection (3D-SSP) technique, which minimizes residual anatomic variances across subjects and partial volume effects, yielding robust voxel-based statistical analysis [3] [25] [26] . 3D-SSP maps allow visualization of deviations in FDG and PiB uptake on an individual basis [3] [10] [11] [25] [26] . Z scores are automatically adjusted by age and gender using scaling procedures [3] [25] [26] . NEUROSTAT generates two Z-score maps for each scan, one depicting negative Z-scores and the other positive Z-scores. Negative Z-score maps were inspected for FDG, and positive Z-score maps for PiB.All 3D-SSP maps were independently inspected by two raters and classified as positive (FDG+, PiB+) or negative (FDG−, PiB−) for presence of a neurodegenerative disease consistent with AD using published protocols with known intraand inter-rater reliabilities and an absolute Z score threshold of >1.5 SD [3] [4] [10] [29] . The final diagnosis was made by joint agreement. Classification was facilitated by detection of AD-patterns exceeding the predefined Z score threshold within AD-specific regions of interest (ROI) superimposed onto the 3D-SSP maps [3] [10] [30] . ROIs included parietal, temporal, medial and pre-frontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), precuneus, and angular gyrus [1] -[7] [11] [27] [30] . FDG+ scans had focal cortical hypometabolism in PCC, precuneus, parietal, temporal and/or prefrontal cortex of at least one hemisphere, with sparing of sensorimotor, visual cortex basal ganglia and cerebellum [3] [4] [10] [26] [29] . As reduced FDG uptake may occur in frontal cortex in AD, this region was also inspected although frontal hypometabolism alone was not regarded as indicative of AD. FDG− scans had no abnormal findings or had abnormal findings reported other than those meeting the definition of FDG+ (e.g., global decrease in metabolic levels without sparing of sensorimotor and visual cortex and cerebellum; hypometabolism restricted to brain regions not specific to AD) [3] [4] [10] [26] [29] . PiB+ scans had focal cortical PiB uptake in PCC/precuneus, parietal, temporal and/or medial and prefrontal lobes of at least one hemisphere, with sparing of sensorimotor cortex, basal ganglia and cerebellum [1] -[7] [11] [27] . As amyloid deposition may occur in occipital cortex and striatum in AD, these regions were also inspected although PiB uptake in occipital cortex and striatum alone was not regarded as indicative of AD. PiB− scans had no abnormal findings or had abnormal findings reported other than those meeting the definition of PiB+ (e.g., PiB retention restricted to brain regions not specific to AD). The method was further validated vs. visual inspection of raw scans as well as vs. quantitative assessment. As different levels of abnormalities were observed for both tracers, FDG+ and PiB+ scans were further divided into patterns with mild vs moderate-to-severe deficits based on Z scores within diagnostic regions. For both tracers, mild abnormalities were defined by Z ≤ 2.5 and cluster extent >50 voxels, and moderate-to-severe abnormalities by Z > 2.5 and cluster extent >200 voxels (Figure 1).
Statistical analyses were done with SPSS 16.0 (SPSS inc., Chicago, IL). Differences in clinical and demographical measures between groups were examined with χ2 tests and the general linear model (GLM). χ2 tests were used to compare the distribution of FDG+ vs FDG−, and PiB+ vs PiB− scans, as well as the degree of biomarkers abnormalities (moderate-to-severe vs mild) between family history groups (FH+ vs FH−), and parent-gender groups (FHm vs FHp). Non-parametric McNemar tests for related samples were used to compare the frequency
Figure 1. Left panel: Representative FDG-PET patterns in NL individuals: (A, B) FDG−; (C, D) mild hypometabolism of PCC a/o parieto-temporal cortex; (E, F) moderate-to-severe hypmetabolism of PCC a/o parieto-temporal cortex. Right panel: Representative PiB-PET patterns in NL individuals: (A, B) PiB−; (C, D) mild PiB uptakein PCC a/o parieto-temporal cortex; (E, F) moderate-to-severe PiB uptake in PCC a/o parieto-temporal cortex. 3D-SSP maps showing tracer uptake deviations relative to norms are displayed on a color-coded scale and shown on the right and left lateral, superior and inferior, anterior and posterior, right and left medial views of a standardized brain image.
of FDG+ and PiB+ ratings within groups. To assess the effect of age on diagnostic accuracy, the cohort was separated according to its median age (60 y) into two groups, younger (49 ± 9 y) and older (68 ± 5 y), which were examined in interaction with FH status. Logistic regressions and ROC curves were used to estimate accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and relative risk (95% confidence interval, C.I.) of individual FDG and PiB scans, and their combination, as risk classifiers. Results were considered significant at p < 0.05.
Of the 146 NL individuals enrolled, 24 were excluded, including 9 subjects who did not complete the FDG or PiB procedure, 4 subjects of age >80 yrs, 4 subjects who were excluded because of comorbidities (i.e., severe depression or MRI abnormalities), and 10 subjects with incomplete family history. The remaining 119 NL individuals were examined in this study (Table 1). Of these, 80 (67%) had a positive family history of AD (FH+), including 50 FHm and 30 FHp. The remaining 39 subjects were FH−. Family history groups were comparable for clinical and demographical measures (Table 1).
3.2. PET Findings: Age
A significant effect of age was observed for both FDG and PiB-PET. NL of age >60 y showed a higher frequency of FDG+ (37%) compared to those of age ≤60 y (16%; p = 0.01), as well as of PiB+ scans (21% vs 2%; p < 0.001) (Figure 2). Additionally, older individuals showed a higher frequency of FDG+ and PiB+ scans with moderate-to-severe abnormalities compared to younger individuals (p < 0.04; Figure 2).
3.3. PET Findings: Family History
Across all subjects, FH+ individuals showed a higher frequency of FDG+ scans (28/80, 35%) as compared to FH− (2/39, 5%; p < 0.001), as well as a higher frequency of individuals with moderate-to-severe metabolic deficits (9% vs 0%, respectively, p = 0.002) (Figure 2). There was a non-significant trend towards a higher frequency of PiB+ scans in FH+ vs. FH− (13% vs 5%, p = 0.21, n.s.), and all PiB+ scans with moderate-to-severe abnormalities belonged to the FH+ group (Figure 2). A significant interaction between FH and age was ob
Table 1. Demographic characteristics by family history group.
Values are mean (standard deviation).
Figure 2. PET abnormalities in NL FH+ vs. FH− individuals. Top panel: Percentage of FDG+, PiB+ and FDG+/PiB+ scans by age (A); family history status (B); and age by family history status (C); Bottom panel: Percentage of FDG and PiB scans showing absent, mild, or moderate-to-severe abnormalities by age (D); family history status (E), and age by family history status (F).
served for both FDG− and PiB-PET, with FH+ individuals of age >60 y showing the highest frequency of FDG+ and PiB+ scans among all groups (p ≤ 0.001). Among NL of age >60 y, FH+ subjects showed a higher frequency of FDG+ scans (53%), as well as a higher frequency of moderate-to-severe metabolic deficits (15%) compared to FH− (6% and 0%, respectively; p ≤ 0.003). There was a trend towards a higher frequency of PiB+ scans in FH+ vs FH− (27% vs. 11%; p = 0.19). Among NL of age ≤60 y, FH+ subjects showed a trend towards a higher frequency of FDG+ scans vs FH− (22% vs 5%, p = 0.08). There were no group differences for PiB-PET, as only 1 NL subject out of 67 was PiB+. Among FH+ individuals, the frequency of FDG+ scans was higher than that of PiB+ scans in both age cohorts (p ≤ 0.02; Figure 3). No differences between biomarkers were found for the FH− group, at any age.
3.4. PET Findings: Parent-Gender Effects
Across all subjects, significant parent-gender effects were observed on FDG−PET. This effect was driven by FHm individuals who showed a higher frequency of FDG+ scans (40%) compared to FH− (5%) and to FHp subjects (27%) (p < 0.001; Figure 3). The FHm group included slightly more subjects with moderate-to-severe metabolic deficits than the other groups (Figure 3). Neither the frequency of PiB+ scans or of moderate-to-severe PiB abnormalities differed between groups (p < 0.35, n.s.), although none of the FH− subjects showed moderate-to-severe PiB abnormalities (Figure 3). A significant interaction between parent-gender FH status and age was observed on both FDG− and PiB-PET (p < 0.005). Among individuals of age >60 y, NL FHm and FHp showed a higher frequency of FDG+ scans compared to FH− (55% and 50% vs 6%, p = 0.003), as well as a higher frequency of moderate to severe deficits (p < 0.02). NL FHm and FHp showed more PiB+ scans than FH− (23% FHm, 33% FHp vs 11% FH−), which did not reach significance (p = 0.33). Among individuals of age<60 y, NL FHm showed a higher frequency of FDG+ scans (29%) compared to FH− (5%, p = 0.04) and a trend compared to FHp (11%) (p = 0.07), while the distribution of PiB+ scans was not different between groups (Figure 3). Overall, among FHm individuals, the frequency of FDG+ scans was higher than that of PiB+ scans in both age cohorts (p < 0.03). No differences between biomarkers were found within the FHp group, at any age.
3.5. Abnormalities of Both Biomarkers
A total of 7 subjects had both FDG+ and PiB+ scans (FDG+/PiB+). All these individuals had age >60 yrs and were FH+, including 4/50 (8%) FHm and 3/30 (10%) FHp (Figure 2 and Figure 3). Three representative cases of different FDG and PiB patterns are shown in Figure 4.
Figure 3. PET abnormalities in NL FHm vs. FHp vs. FH−. Top panel: Percentage of FDG+, PiB+ and FDG+/PiB+ scans by parent-gender (A); age by parent-gender status (B); Bottom panel: Percentage of FDG and PiB scans showing absent, mild, or moderate-to-severe abnormalities by parent-gender (C); and age by parent-gender status (D).
Figure 4. Three representative cases: (A) 50 y/o FH− with FDG−/PiB− scans; (B) 52 y/o FHm with FDG+/PiB− scans; (C) 65 y/o FHm with FDG+/PiB+ scans.
3.6. Discrimination Accuracy
Family history. Across all subjects, FDG-PET discriminated FH+ vs FH− status with 56% accuracy (35% sensitivity, SS, 85% specificity, SP) and relative risk, RR = 1.6, 95% CI = 1.2 - 1.8 (p = 0.001). Within age groups, FDG-PET was a significant predictor for NL of age >60 y, with 67% accuracy, 53% SS, 94% SP and RR = 2.0, 95% CI = 1.3 - 2.2 (p = 0.003) and showed borderline value for NL of age ≤60 y (45% accuracy, RR = 1.4, 95% CI = 0.9 - 1.6, p = 0.17). PiB−PET did not predict FH status at any age. Adding PiB to FDG in the prediction model did not increase the discrimination accuracy over FDG for any comparisons.
Family history parent-gender. Across all subjects, FDG−PET discriminated FHm vs FH− with 64% accuracy (40% SS, 95% SP) and RR = 2.0, 95% CI = 1.4 - 2.3 (p = 0.001). This effect was observed for the older (73% accuracy, RR = 2.5, 95% CI = 1.4 - 3.0, p = 0.003) and younger cohorts (57% accuracy, RR = 1.8, 95% CI = 1.0 - 2.1, p = 0.07). FDG-PET discriminated FHp vs FH− only for NL of age >60 y, yielding 77% accuracy and RR = 3.3, 95% CI = 1.2 - 4.5 (p = 0.02). PiB−PET did not discriminated FHm and FHp groups from controls or from each other and did not add to the prediction accuracy of FDG for any comparisons (p ≥ 0.3).
As several disease-modifying treatments for AD are being evaluated, detection of preclinical brain abnormalities is of great importance to identify individuals at high risk for AD who will most likely benefit from early interventions. By using automated, observer-independent Z scoring software, the present study shows that FDG− and PiB-PET abnormalities are detectable on an individual basis in NL individuals at known increased risk for AD, years prior to possible symptoms onset. NL FH+ showed a higher frequency of metabolic deficits compared to FH−, at any age, whereas increased PiB uptake, reflecting increased fibrillar Aβ deposition, became prominent after age 60 in FH+. The frequency of FDG deficits exceeded that of PiB abnormalities among FH+ individuals, especially those with FHm, of both age cohorts.
Changes in brain histopathology are known to precede the symptoms of AD by many years [31] . According to a popular theoretical model of AD, the “amyloid cascade hypothesis”, Aβ plaques increase during the preclinical phase of AD, causing synapse loss and neuronal death [13] . Other studies have shown that oxidative stress may precede and promote Aβ plaques deposition [32] . While Aβ deposition and metabolic impairments are likely cooccurring phenomena in AD, discrepancies in timing and regional distribution are to be expected, especially in early disease. PiB retention co-localizes with Aβ plaques [5] , while FDG uptake reflects local glucose consumption and synaptic functioning, and is therefore influenced by various factors, including reduced synaptic activity [33] , neuronal disruption by Aβ oligomers and plaques [13] , and disconnection between histopathologically affected regions and functionally associated areas [34] [35] . As such, local Aβ toxicity may not be the only determinant of hypometabolism in early AD.
Fibrillar Aβ deposition was strongly age-related in our data set, as hardly any individuals of age ≤60 y showed significant PiB uptake, whereas 21% of individuals over age 60 had PiB+ scans. These estimates are consistent with other reports showing increased PiB uptake in AD-vulnerable regions of 20% - 50% NL elderly [9] [14] [15] and with post-mortem reports showing that Aβ deposition develops mostly after age 60 [31] [36] . Amyloid deposition was significantly associated with FH status in older individuals, indicating that aging FH+ people are more susceptible to develop brain Aβ compared to FH−. Conversely, hypometabolism on FDG-PET strongly segregated with FH status, especially FHm, irrespective of age. An FDG pattern suggestive of AD was observed in 16% NL of age ≤60 y and 37% NL of age >60 y, the majority of whom were FH+. While there are no prior reports on the prevalence of FDG+ scans in NL individuals, current estimates are quite comparable to those of PiB+ scans in elderly populations [9] [14] [15] . To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine individual PiB or FDG-PET in young adults. The higher prevalence of FDG+ vs. PiB+ scans in our younger FH+ cohort suggests that either metabolic deficits promote, and possibly precede Aβ dysmetabolism in this subset of at-risk individuals, or that FDG reductions are a consequence of Aβ oligomers which are not detectable using PiB.
While we cannot statistically define a temporal or causal relationship between biomarkers due to the crosssectional nature of our study and differences in the methods’ sensitivity, biomarkers could be staged as having early or later value for detection of AD risk. For instance, if hypometabolism happens at a higher frequency than Aβ deposition in younger FH+ vs FH− individuals, and yet the two abnormalities occur at the same frequency in older subjects, it may be hypothesized that hypometabolism occurs prior to Aβ deposition. Logistic regressions showed that FDG deficits distinguished FH+ from FH− among older and younger individuals, while PiB failed to do so, especially in the younger cohort. Fibrillar Aβ deposition on PiB-PET may thus be regarded as a “late emerging” biomarker in NL FH+, which is more likely to have changed after “early emerging” hypometabolism on FDG-PET. Future studies are needed to clarify whether metabolic abnormalities in these at-risk individuals are an upstream event to Aβ deposition, or rather reflect disruption of synaptic plasticity by Aβ, in oligomeric or aggregated forms [13] [22] . For practical purposes, present results indicate that FDG-PET may be more informative than PiB-PET for early detection of AD-like changes in NL FH+.
Our findings of hypometabolism in absence of substantial Aβ pathology in young adults FH+, especially those with FHm, are in agreement with reports of metabolic deficits in NL at genetic risk for LOAD [37] , and add complexity to current theoretical models of AD progression [9] . These observations are consistent with epidemiological studies showing a main role for maternal transmission in LOAD. Maternal transmission is more frequent than paternal transmission and is associated with a more predictable age of onset and lower performance on cognitive testing in the offspring [22] . Additionally, maternally-inherited LOAD biological endophenotypes are increasingly recognized [18] -[21] . Metabolic changes may be, to some extent, developmental in FHm individuals [22] . It remains to be established whether these changes are due to early, ongoing AD pathology or rather reflect an inborn precondition for later development of disease. Maternal inheritance of oxidative dysmetabolism and other AD-related changes suggests genetic transmission that may be mediated by mitochondrial DNA, which is maternally inherited in humans [22] .
Longitudinal follow-ups of our subjects are warranted to determine the predictive value of the observed PET abnormalities. To our knowledge there are no studies that examined PET in the prediction of individual clinical outcome in NL subjects. Therefore, any clinical value at this time is unclear. A few studies of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), a clinical condition at high risk for LOAD, showed high prognostic accuracy for conversion to AD using both FDG− and PiB-PET [4] [10] [29] [38] . About 80% - 90% of MCI with baseline FDG+ or PiB+ scans declined to AD within 1 - 2 years, while the majority of MCI with negative PET scans remained stable over time. By applying similar PET rating criteria as in previous studies, we observed that NL FH+ of age >60 y had 2-fold higher risk of metabolic deficits than controls, which yielded 67% accuracy to discriminate high vs low risk groups. These estimates are necessarily less impressive than in MCI studies, as the conversion rate from normal cognition to AD is substantially lower than for MCI to AD (1% - 2% vs 10% - 30% per year) [39] . Additionally, although FDG-PET abnormalities predict decline from normal cognition to dementia on a group basis (23 - 25), these measures are surrogate markers of AD and doubt remains as to whether the observed hypometabolism is due to AD pathology or other causes.
3D-SSP mapping was developed and extensively validated for FDG-PET [11] [26] , and was only recently applied to PiB imaging [40] . 3D-SSP output maps are derived from surface projections. It is possible that, as nonspecific PiB uptake is quite elevated in white matter, the program may accidentally project white matter voxels on the surface, increasing the surface area showing abnormalities. This would however result in an increased number of false PiB positives. On the other hand, in severely atrophic brains, the method may underestimate the small amyloid-positive cortical rim surrounding white matter. Partial volume correction (PVC) was not performed in this study because of two considerations. First, our subjects were clinically NL and the oldest was 79, with a median age of 60 y. Atrophic changes severe enough to result in critical underestimation of amyloid burden are more likely in clinical AD patients. Second, it would not be feasible to apply mathematically complex, MRI-based PVC for routine clinical studies. Third, we validated the method against visual reads of all scans and vs. quantitative Z score assessment, showing 100% agreement between 3D-SSP maps and visual inspection of PiB scans. Nonetheless, it remains to be determined whether MRI-based white matter masking would improve the technique’s accuracy, and whether the method may have underestimated detection of very mild, “emerging” PiB abnormalities. Our reference database included carefully selected NL FH− individuals, whose scans were rated as negative for presence of hypometabolism or amyloid pathology, using the same criteria and procedures as with the study cohort. As we further refine the method, larger normative databases may improve detection of subtle abnormalities.
We caution that the NL population selected in our study represents a group with a high a priori risk of preclinical AD-changes, results were made with small numbers of subjects under controlled clinical conditions, and our observations are restricted to NL FH+. Replication of these preliminary research findings in communitybased populations is warranted and clinical application is not justified. Nevertheless, we believe that present results are plausible and promising, and set the stage for further studies of asymptomatic individuals at risk for LOAD with longitudinal follow-ups and larger samples. In conclusion, FDG and PiB-PET abnormalities were detectable on an individual basis in asymptomatic people by means of standardized, automated PET analysis procedures, and segregated with FH+ status. This supports the notion that having a 1st degree family history is a major risk factor for LOAD.
The authors have no disclosures in connection with this paper. The NIH/NIA AG035137, AG13616, AG032554, and AG022374, from the Alzheimer’s Association (IIRG-09-132030), an Anonymous Foundation, and the German Research Foundation (DFG) [DR 445/3-1, 4-1 to A.D.].
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Home Society Inspiration 4th Grader is Bullied for Homemade University of Tennessee T-Shirt—The School Just...
4th Grader is Bullied for Homemade University of Tennessee T-Shirt—The School Just Made it an Official Design
Bri Lamm
A Florida student obsessed with the University of Tennessee Volunteers is making headlines this week and reminding us that there is still good in the world.
Laura Snyder, a fourth-grade teacher at Altamonte Elementary School in Altamonte Springs, Florida, took to Facebook last week with a devastating story of just how mean some kids can be.
She didn’t know it at the time, but thanks to the internet, those bullies were not going to get the final word.
Snyder says one of her students was so excited about the school’s “College Colors Day” during spirit week because he is obsessed with the University of Tennessee Volunteers. The trouble was, he didn’t own any of the school’s apparel.
“We discussed that he could wear an orange shirt to show his spirit,” Snyder wrote on Facebook. “He told me every day leading up to it that he had an orange shirt that he was going to wear.”
Snyder says the boy even went as far as drawing a “U.T.”, the university’s logo, on paper and pinning it to the front of his shirt.
“So when the day finally arrived, he was SO EXCITED to show me his shirt. I was impressed that he took it one step further to make his own label.”
But it wasn’t long before some mean kids had to rain on this kid’s parade.
“Some girls at the lunch table next to his (who didn’t even participate in college colors day) had made fun of his sign that he had attached to his shirt. He was DEVASTATED,” Snyder wrote on Facebook.
Hoping to cheer him up, Snyder said she planned on buying the student a University of Tennessee T-Shirt.
(Can we get an AMEN for the teachers who are constantly going above and beyond for their students??! We love you the most.)
In her post, she also asked if any of her Facebook friends had contacts with the school who could “make it a little extra special for him.”
9/6/19 – UT really outdid themselves🧡!! I was so excited to surprise my student today!! I’m not even sure I can put…
Posted by Laura Snyder on Wednesday, September 4, 2019
By Thursday, her post had gone viral, with Vols fans from around the nation leaving notes of encouragement for their fellow Volunteer. As the post garnered more and more attention, it wasn’t long before the University reached out to Snyder wanting to send the student a care package full of apparel and school swag.
“You all have taken this above and beyond what I had ever imagined,” she wrote.
Snyder updated her Facebook post again on Friday, sharing about the moment she got to witness her student opening the package from UT.
“My student was so amazed at all the goodies in the box,” she said. “He proudly put on the jersey and one of the many hats in the box. All who saw had either goosebumps or tears while we explained that he had inspired and touched the lives of so many people.”
But the Volunteers weren’t done yet.
The school took it one step further, announcing they would be making his hand-drawn “U.T.” design into an official T-shirt.
“Share in a Florida elementary student’s Volunteer pride by wearing his design on your shirt too!,” the university’s official campus store said on Twitter.
Share in a Florida elementary student’s Volunteer pride by wearing his design on your shirt too! Pre-order today for a late September expected delivery. A portion of proceeds from every shirt sold will be donated to @STOMPOutBullyng .https://t.co/NdnTtYREFL pic.twitter.com/OeTZvgC09Y
— VolShop (@UTVolShop) September 6, 2019
According to the University, a portion of the proceeds from each T-shirt sold will go to STOMP Out Bullying, an anti-bullying foundation committed to “changing the culture for all students”
“When I told him that his design was being made into a real shirt and people wanted to wear it, his jaw dropped,” said Snyder. “He had a big smile on his face, walked taller, and I could tell his confidence grew today!”
Demand for the student’s T-shirt was so high on Saturday that it crashed the University of Tennessee’s online shop.
Blown away by the support, Snyder extended a big “THANK YOU” to everyone who came together to champion on her student’s behalf, and for showing the rest of her class what it looks like to “come together and be kind.”
“Personally, I’m looking forward to wearing the shirt he designed. It’ll be the one and only piece of orange clothing that this Seminoles fan will ever wear!”
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Bri Lamm is the Editor of ForEveryMom.com! An outgoing introvert with a heart that beats for adventure, she lives to serve the Lord, experience the world, and eat macaroni and cheese all while capturing life’s greatest moments on one of her favorite cameras. Follow her on Facebook!
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Bipolar disorder is characterized by dramatic changes in mood that are different from a person’s usual mood. Mood changes occur in periods called episodes, which last anywhere from several days to months.
What causes bipolar disorder?
Doctors and researchers don’t know what causes bipolar disorder. A person’s life experience, environment and family background all play a role. People who have an immediate family member with bipolar disorder are more likely to develop the disorder themselves. However, many others with a family member who have bipolar disorder never get it themselves. Many people with bipolar disorder have no family history.
Who gets bipolar disorder?
The most severe types of bipolar disorder affect about 3% of people. The condition occurs equally in males and females. Obvious manic episodes usually happen in adolescence or adulthood, so the diagnosis of bipolar disorder is often late.
It’s difficult to predict whether a child will develop a manic episode. Still, some clues in childhood suggest risk for developing bipolar disorder. For example, a child who has a family history of bipolar disorder and brief, two-day manic episodes is at risk.
Helpful resources for bipolar disorder:
What are the types of mood episodes and symptoms?
Mania: Symptoms include elevated mood or irritability
Depression: Symptoms include sadness, apathy or irritability
Mixed: Symptoms include a mixture of mania and depression
To have bipolar disorder, someone must have experienced an episode with manic symptoms. Clinicians use other symptoms to clarify which mood episode is occurring.
The intensity and duration of mood episodes determine the type of bipolar disorder.
How do providers at Children’s Hospital Colorado diagnose bipolar disorder?
All patients receiving mental health services at Children’s Colorado undergo a comprehensive assessment with a qualified clinician. Your clinician may ask your permission to speak with professionals in the community, such as school officials, primary care providers or social service liaisons.
Our patients also complete well-tested questionnaires that are used to help identify a child who has been experiencing symptoms of bipolar disorder. After our team reviews all information carefully, anyone who is suspected to have bipolar disorder will also receive an evaluation by a psychiatrist at the Children’s Colorado Pediatric Mental Health Institute.
How We Treat (Our Programs and Clinics)
How is bipolar disorder treated?
While there is no cure for bipolar disorder, treatment can help to predict, reduce and prevent future mood episodes.
At the Pediatric Mental Health Institute at Children’s Hospital Colorado, we adhere to best practices for the treatment of bipolar disorder, which includes a combination of medication and psychotherapy.
Youth with bipolar disorder are most often treated in outpatient mental health clinics. However, mood episodes can be severe and risky. During these times, a person may require more intensive care, through a stay in our Partial Hospitalization day treatment or Inpatient Programs.
With each episode, the likelihood and risk associated with future episodes increases. As such, earlier intervention is associated with better outcomes.
Mood And Thought Disorders
This program specializes in treating children and adolescents with mood and thought disorders.
Mental health is essential to your overall health, and it’s worth taking care of. Get answers to your mental health questions from our experts.
Jonna Von Schulz, PhD
Justin Fensterman, LPC
Marissa Schiel, MD
Joel Stoddard, MD
Kaise Holen, MSW, BA
Kamleh Shaban, MD
Kristin Van Scoyk, LCSW
Jessica Hawks, PhD
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Inhabit the Earth Review
June 13, 2016 October 24, 2018 Joshua Gaylord 63 Views 0 Comments
Richard Breese has achieved a kind of auteur status in the boardgaming world. If Eric Lang is the J.J. Abrams of modern boardgaming, Richard Breese, with his off-center themes, his homegrown productions, his detailed designer notes incorporated into the box art, the colorful, idiosyncratic drawings by his sister, Juliet, is the Wes Anderson.
His Keyflower was, curiously enough, one of my very first forays into designer boardgaming, and it remains one of my favorite games to date. So, despite the somewhat off-putting cover art (all demonic creatures great and small), his most recent production, Inhabit the Earth, was an automatic purchase for me.
Thematically, Inhabit the Earth is a kinder, gentler Evolution. While Evolution focuses on survival of the fittest (identifying your opponents’ weakest creations and chowing down on them, or shoring up your own shortcomings), Inhabit the Earth, ironically, has a more evolutionary perspective: your species never really die out—they just evolve into different species. No one in the game is attacking anyone else. Rather, it’s a race up the evolutionary ladder.
The challenge of the game is to tinker, god-like, with your species so that they can better adapt to their environments and leapfrog over your opponents’ species. Let’s say your toucan has come face-to-face with a decidedly un-toucan-friendly desert. You can extend your god-finger down from the clouds and mate your toucan with a vampire bat to create some unholy new species that will be just as comfortable in the desert plains as it will in the jungle. Also, your toucan can now migrate to North America if that continent’s evolutionary race seems more profitable.
Inhabit the Earth is essentially a race game combined with a tableau-building game. You use cards to introduce and adapt your species in your own individual tableau, and then you migrate those species, racing them up six different continental south-to-north S curves. On your turn, you make adjustments to your animals through one of the following moves:
Introducing a new species (up to six total for each player)
Breeding a species (which gets you more cards with which to do more stuff)
Adapting a species (by adding characteristics from one animal to another so that it can travel further
Evolving a species (which means, essentially, turning an animal into another animal entirely)
These moves are generally pretty quick, but they all build toward another kind of turn that you can take when you are ready: migration. On a migration turn, you have the opportunity of moving at least one (but preferably more) of your animals up their respective tracks on the board, hopping over other species, tearing through forest and grassland, rushing to be the first in the northlands.
These turns are inevitably longer (by quite a bit) than the usual turn, because the active player has to move his or her animals, one at a time, checking multiple icons on each animal. But these longer turns feel worth it. They are the culmination of a lot of planning. For many turns before that, you have bred and adapted and multiplied and evolved, and now, finally, you thunder ahead a bunch of spaces all at once. Then, afterward, you and your animal are exhausted, and you revert back to the shorter planning turns for a few rounds.
That ebb-and-flow pacing of the game is one of the most elegant things about it. Granted, it requires a certain breed of player to appreciate it. Some players who are unable to take an interest in other people’s games unless they are directly impacted by them might be bored while their opponents are working through their migration turns. And, of course, there will be more of this downtime in games with more players. But for those players who can muster the energy to be involved in what other players are doing (let’s call them the “socially unselfish”), there is joy to be found in the way an animal has adapted perfectly to multiple environments and launched its way forward through five or six spaces in one fell swoop—whether that animal is yours or an opponent’s.
The components of the game are functional. Your animals are represented by symbolic stickered wooden squares—which is fine. Nobody likes those little plastic winks, but they are used sparingly in the game. Each player has an individualized tray constructed out of three cardboard pieces, which is a nice addition. Graphically, my primary problem is that the six map boards that compose the main playing surface don’t actually meet properly at the edges to create an authentic looking world map. It’s a minor thing, but I am just compulsive enough to long for seamless graphic design.
Then there’s the card art. The truth is that the art is actually very nice—quaint, homespun, generous in its variety. Every one of the 162 cards in the game features a unique animal with unique art. (On further reflection, you realize that the only reason the cover art is so menacing is that the animals are gathered together, brooding, gazing upon you like some hive-mind menagerie; individually, they come across as downright amiable.)
Andrew: Just to interject, I don’t know that I agree with that last sentiment. Have you seen this bear? This bear has seen some things, my friend. And it came back…changed…
Ultimately, yes, I highly recommend the Inhabit the Earth. The game is a pleasure to play because it feels crafted rather than assembled. It’s not like other games you’ve played. Yes, it has multiple-use cards, special powers, bonus scoring, and all those other little ornaments—but, rather than being some combination of other, pre-existing game mechanisms, Richard Breese has created something that feels authentically new.
It’s fun to work on a species of animal that belongs to no one else at the table. It’s fun to give that animal new adaptations, to build that animal into an incredible cockroach of a species that can traverse any landscape and live in any continent. It’s fun to make progress and watch your efforts pay off in big moves. Like many excellent games, Inhabit the Earth starts small and grows bigger and bigger as you invest time and care into your personal wild kingdom. There’s great pride in watching your buffalope canter through a marshland, fighting its inevitable way north toward evolutionary victory.
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ALIKIVI
MUSIC : SOCIAL HISTORY : DOCUMENTARY FILM : NORTH EAST UK
BEAUTY & THE BOLLOCKS – UK Subs & Hi Fi Spitfires guitarist Steve Straughan
October 1, 2017 October 24, 2019 / Gary Alikivi
‘Since joining the UK Subs I am more busy than ever, which I love. The UK Subs have a 40th anniversary gig in November, a UK tour then a 5 week tour of Europe. I’ve got a lot going on and always have since I first picked up a guitar after hearing Never Mind the Bollocks. Blew me away. It still does today’.
Who were your influences Steve and how did you get involved in playing music ? Was there a defining moment when you said I want to do that ? ’1970’s music was healthy at the time but nothing was opening the doors for me. Music was always there in the background like the glam rock thing, but it just wasn’t grabbing me. It was like black and white tv, nothing special. But when punk came around it gave me that extra thing like colour tv. It just had that extra spark, that beauty. What can I say, it was incredible.
I remember watching video clips from The Great Rock n Roll Swindle, songs from the Bollocks album – that made me want to do it myself. Also listening to The Stranglers album, Rattus Norvegicus, and a lot of other punk stuff from 1977. That whole scene was electric. I rode the wave of punk rock to get into music first, then went back to the likes of 70’s glam to appreciate it. There was a keyhole to my musical heart and it was punk that opened it’.
‘Where I lived in Sunderland we had a healthy punk scene. Watching the likes of Red Alert at Monkwearmouth youth club was very influential. Watching lad’s from my area and who were just a little bit older made me realise that it can be done. Being in a band back then was more like being in a gang but extended with instruments. Punk gave you the ability to tell your story and release your frustrations’.
When did you start playing gigs and what venues did you play ? ’From the start I’ve been really busy gigging and recording. I haven’t stopped, over the years I’ve played in a number of bands. Way back in the early 80’s my first punk band Formal Warning played youth clubs and school halls in the Fulwell and Seaburn area of Sunderland where we lived. That lasted till around ’82.
As I got older I joined Red London and toured all over Europe. I then joined a band called Holy Racket. Again toured all over Europe. We played brilliant gigs but one great memory was supporting Rancid at the O2 Academy in Newcastle. Loved that. I’ve played guitar for the Lurkers touring around Europe with them from 2009 until 2012. I was guitarist for a couple of years in the Angelic Upstarts we played many great gigs including a USA tour.
I formed Hi Fi Spitfires and toured a lot in the UK and abroad. One great tour was supporting TV Smiths Adverts and toured with 999 in Germany. We have supported everyone in the punk world really, like The Damned at the North East Calling gigs. Since joining the UK Subs just over a year ago, we have played extensively in the UK, Europe and the USA. Is that enough for ya’ haha’.
What were your experiences of recording ? ‘Over the years I have recorded with all of those bands I’ve talked about. Best thing is I’ve kind of found my home when working with producer Fred Purser at Trinity Heights in Newcastle. Fred was once guitarist of the North East 70’s punk band Penetration.
Some of the bands who have recorded at Trinity are Angelic Upstarts, Toy Dolls, Red Alert, Red London, Holy Racket and Hi Fi Spitfires. Holy Racket recorded the album Anthems For The Doomed And Dazed there, North Rebel Radio and Subliminal Chaos all of which were released on cd. We also recorded some material which was later released on a 7 inch single called Anoraxia. Hi Fi Spitfires recorded the album England Screaming there which was released on cd and the album Nightraid which was released on cd and vinyl’.
‘We have always paid for everything ourselves, no record companies involved at all. If your serious about being in a band it’s obvious you have to record and release material. It’s not cheap to do it though. To record where we do it’s £220+ per day. On top of that there is the cost of pressing on cd or vinyl. The price of vinyl is unbelievably pricey. This is why I have only managed to do the vinyl route a couple of times. We are at the moment talking to a good friend who has agreed to put the money up to release our first album on vinyl like he did with our second’.
Have you any funny stories from playing gigs ? ‘I could honestly write a book. Here are just two. A long time ago I played a charity gig in Sunderland. A friend of mine asked if he could come along as he had not seen any live bands before. I remember beforehand he was a bit nervous meeting the rest of my band. He kept asking if everything would be ok. I kept assuring him that everything would be cool and there certainly would not be any kind of trouble as it was a charity gig. As I got ready and packed my guitars he went to the shop and got some ale just to take the edge off as he was quite nervous around new people. At this point I just thought he was having a couple of drinks.
Fast forward to the gig and just before we went onstage he told us how grateful he was for letting him come with us. About 5 songs in I was aware that something was going totally wrong by the people’s faces in the venue. I turned to my side to see my once very nervous mate running round the stage and pogoing naked. The security was called and he was escorted from the building. We were told to get off the stage. I asked why and the bouncer said, shut up, get your gear off, your barred. After the initial shock I laughed my head off all the way home. I think we gave those people something extra thanks to my mate’.
‘Years later I agreed for the same lad to come on tour with me in Belgium with the band I was in at the time Holy Racket. He assured me all the way there that he had learned his lesson and he wouldn’t do it again. There would be no repeat performance. I know he was very embarrassed about it. During our performance on stage he was looking in a cupboard and found a horses head mask. He came running on the stage naked, with the horses head on and a sock fastened to his cock. I couldn’t play for laughing. I remember the audience loving it’.
‘Next stop for Hi Fi Spitfires are return recording sessions with Fred Purser at Trinity Heights, Newcastle. We are recording a 5 track cd called Doors To The USA. Yeah can’t wait’.
Interview by Gary Alikivi September 2017.
Crashed Out, Guns, Maggots and Street Punk, 6th July 2017.
Steve James, Under the Skin, 9th July 2017.
Evo, No One Gets Out Alive, 8th October 2017. 2017.
Steve Kincaide, Life of Booze, Bands & Buffoonery, 11th January 2018.
NORTH EAST UK MUSIC, PUNK
ANGELIC UPSTARTS, PUNK, THE WILDHEARTS, UK SUBS
← ANGER IS OUR ENERGY – 5 minutes with French punk band Hightower
THE DEVIL RIDES OUT – with NWOBHM band Satan’s Empire →
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24 April 2019 | London
Glug Meets: Jelly London
Jelly London
Dan Woodger
Job, Joris & Marieke
9-10 Charlotte Mews
W1T 4EF
£7 per person
Hi, hey, hello Gluggers!
Glug Meets is back - and this time, we're moving in to Jelly London for an evening of creative magic!
They've put together an evening for a limited number of Gluggers to meet the team and hear from some of their epic talent.
Talks from the awesome Job from Oscar nominated animation collective Job, Joris & Marieke and illustrator and animator Dan Woodger.
£7 tickets include drinks + snacks!
As always with Glug Meets events we're going to the co-host's offices and will only be having a very limited number of tickets available compared to other events — so make sure you snap up those tickets before it's too late!
Glug London
— Overview of Deets. Date: 24th April 2019 Time: 6.30 – 10.00pm Venue: Jelly London, 9-10 Charlotte Mews, Bloomsbury, London W1T 4EF Nearest tube: Goodge Street Station — About Jelly London.
Jelly London are a creative production company with 15 years of experience in bringing brilliantly crafted animation and illustration to life. They represent a broad array of exceptionally talented directors and have an expansive network of illustrators and designers, who excel at working to brief and creating beautiful visual solutions for their clients.
Jelly oversees the full production of each project from start to finish, ensuring the same high level of attention and output that they do for brands such as Kellogg’s, McDonald’s, Pepsi, SWATCH, Volkswagen, Google, Apple, Cadburys, Ray-Ban, and many more.
Job, Joris & Marieke - Illustrators / Animators
Oscar-nominated animation collective Job, Joris & Marieke specialise in illustration, animation, and character design. Their work is characterised by intriguing characters who usually get wrapped up in all kinds of awkward situations.
They all studied together at the Design Academy in Eindhoven and because of their mixed skill set they relish the opportunity to produce projects from concept to creation to final delivery. They have lent their unique style to campaigns for TfL, Tour de France, T Mobile, 3M, and many more. In addition to commercial work, their other interests include working personal projects like short independent films, educational assignments and designing toys.
Dan Woodger - Illustrator / Animator
Dan Woodger grew up watching The Simpsons and daydreaming about making a living from doing what he loves – drawing and animating.
Fast forward and his client list now proves that’s possible, with the likes of Pepsi, The New York Times, The Washington Post and Netflix having all worked with Dan. Projects with McDonalds and Samsung have seen him travel the globe to Japan and Taiwan respectively.
Having developed a recognizable illustration style and a lovable cast of colourful characters, Dan has since expanded into directing and animating his works, nodding in technique and style to the classic retro feel of his works.
Microsoft Surface Station
Come flex your skills on some top tech!
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We want to thank our lovely partners who all help us deliver our events in London and around the world. Big up to the best people around:
Microsoft Surface — Come flex your skills on the Surface devices!
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Ugly Drinks If your company wants to get involved with Glug too, get in touch with Charlotte at charlotte@glugevents.com and we'll give you more information on what opportunities we've got in store for you.
[Please note that a refund is only available if the event is cancelled. It's OK to sell/give away tickets without notifying us in advance.]
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Category: Isaiah Taylor
Golden: Why Texas will beat Butler
For a team that didn’t know if it had made the NCAAs until its name was called Sunday afternoon, the Texas Longhorns have been given a tremendous opportunity to get busy at the sexiest time of the basketball season.
Butler is tailor made for Rick Barnes and Texas.
Now will the Horns take advantage of this great matchup and win an NCAA opener for the second straight season? A frustrated fan base isn’t about to reach on that one.
I’m reaching. The Longhorns will take out the Bulldogs. Here’s why.
THEY’RE BIGGER
We all understand that college basketball is largely a guard’s game but the Longhorns have an opportunity to really take it to the Bulldogs inside. Butler is built along the lines of a team like Oklahoma State.
Senior Kameron Woods, at 6-9, is the tallest player on this team. Cameron Ridley (pictured) and Prince Ibeh won’t ever by confused with Jalil Okafor but they will get a chance to put their stamp on this game, particularly on defense where they led the country with 7.9 blocks per game.
The nation’s eighth best rebounding team (39.7 per game) should own the glass in this one and win with physicality. Rick Barnes should encourage his guards to feed Ridley and 6-11 Myles Turner on the block because the inside looks will be there. This opponent really matches up for the 18-year-old Turner, who has feasted on smaller defenders but we’re still waiting for him to show up big in a huge game. This would qualify as a huge game.
If ever there was a time for a team to use its size against a smaller opponent, it’s now. Texas would be smart to make this a physical street fight, an ode back to the old Big East days when big, burly teams ruled the roost.
GO GET KELLEN
Demarcus Holland is one my favorite players and it’s not just because he was born in Tyler, but because he’s been the most consistent player for Texas. I see him getting some big minutes against Butler’s best player Kellen Dunham unless Barnes decides to use the bigger, stronger Jon Holmes on him.
Given Holmes’ bad habit of committing careless fouls, expect a combo platter of both with Barnes going with the hot hand down the stretch. Texas should be in good shape as long as the Horns can keep Dunham from going all Nik Stauskas on them. Dunham is a tall guard at 6-6 but is only 185 pounds. He will be content to fire away from behind the arc and is largely a perimeter player, averaging just 2.6 rebounds per game.
His 176 three-point attempts were only 20 less than his two-point attempts. Dunham can stroke it for sure — he hit on 41.5 percent of his triples — so Texas must chase him off the money line and make him put the ball on the floor. Dunham isn’t anywhere near Stauskas in the athleticism department so the Horns will know where to find him. They just have to keep him and Roosevelt Jones from going off.
COACHING EXPERIENCE
Whether you like him or not, Barnes rarely goes into a matchup on the business end of the experience matchup. He will hold the advantage on the bench over Butler head coach Chris Holtmann, who is in his first year in replace Brandon Miller, He is Butler’s third coach since Brad Stevens led them to championship game appearances in 2010 and 2011.
That’s not to say Barnes hasn’t had his struggles in the tournament — he’s 21-21 overall and 19-15 at Texas — but he should be able to do enough with the more talented team to eliminate the Bulldogs and set up a really interesting second rounder against Notre Dame, one of the best offensive teams in the country.
Like I said before, the Horns couldn’t ask for a better opponent in an 11-6 matchup. It’s up to them to close the deal and stick around for at least one more game.
Author Cedric GoldenPosted on March 16, 2015 March 17, 2015 Categories Big 12, Cameron Ridley, Demarcus Holland, Isaiah Taylor, March Madness, NCAA, Rick Barnes, Texas LonghornsTags sportsLeave a comment on Golden: Why Texas will beat Butler
Golden: Rick Barnes and Isaiah Taylor need to get on the same page
Isaiah Taylor’s late floater made him the offensive hero in Monday’s season-saving win over Baylor but he only played 15 minutes, which was a season low for games in which he was healthy.
It turns out Taylor’s lack of minutes had nothing to do with that nasty fall he took in the second half of the Kansas game but because coach Rick Barnes wasn’t pleased with his play.
Taylor’s shot spurred the 61-59 overtime win that kept the Horns alive for an NCAA Tournament berth but his coach didn’t mince words when it came to playing time. On Taylor’s lack of minutes, Barnes said, “It was my choice because he wasn’t doing what we needed him to do at the start of the game defensively. I told him, “you are either going to do what we need you to do, or you’re not going to play.”
When asked about his lack of minutes, Taylor said, “I guess that’s what (Barnes) thought was best for the team. (Barnes) thought it was good for the team, we got into overtime and we played a good game.”
When asked if he was injured, Taylor said, “No.”
Taylor and Baylor’s Royce O’Neale were the starters of an overtime skirmish that resulted in seven players getting ejected. He sported a swollen lip and blood on his teeth in postgame interviews and didn’t appear too happy. Maybe it was because of the scrape and the intense nature of the game or maybe it was because of his lack of playing time. Only he knows.
Texas needs him moving forward. The Horns were fortunate to get out of there with a win with their best offensive player spending big minutes on the bench but it won’t work long term.
While guards Demarcus Holland and Kendal Yancy have really taken a step forward in their development during the second half of the season, the Horns will only go as far as Taylor can take them as the lead guard. He still has the frustrating habit of turning the ball over with low-percentage passes while maddeningly missing free throws at clutch time — he shoots 81 percent — but his ability to get into the lane to score is unparalleled on this team and integral to its offensive success.
Barnes believes Holland is his best player because of his fine overall play on both ends but this team won’t go anywhere if Taylor isn’t a central character in the script. This is not a personality conflict because Barnes says he loves the kid. It’s a question of execution and Barnes won’t yield on this issue.
Since Barnes holds the key to the minutes’ vault, Taylor needs to do what is necessary to get back to his customary 30-plus minutes. If that means selling out on defense, then go do it. If he doesn’t, Texas, Taylor, and Barnes will all be doomed to failure because the Horns just aren’t good enough to win consistently with a player of his talents playing substitute’s minutes.
Author Cedric GoldenPosted on March 3, 2015 March 12, 2015 Categories Isaiah Taylor, Rick Barnes, Texas LonghornsTags sportsLeave a comment on Golden: Rick Barnes and Isaiah Taylor need to get on the same page
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Student bends Beech on landing
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The bigger question
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October 24, 2019 by Jeffrey Madison 1 Comment
When I attended Long Beach City College in pursuit of my degree in Aviation, Professional Pilot, the department chair, Steven King, once said to me, “You’re going to make it to the airlines. You’ve got the right mindset.” I didn’t know what he meant. I just knew I would do whatever needed to be done to achieve that goal.
“Mindset.” What a great word. Straightforward and direct.
One definition of mindset, taken from a Psychology Today article by Dr. Gary Klein, suggests that a mindset is “a belief that orients the way we handle situations — the way we sort out what is going on and what we should do.”
Pilots quickly move from the relatively static, safe environment of land life into the dynamic, relatively dangerous flight deck environment once we step inside an aircraft. When it comes to mindset, we must possess a fixed mindset, but be able to adapt when needed.
One general aviation pilot discovered this during a SNAFU that precipitated filing a report to NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System.
He arrived at the field and did a modified preflight flow. He readied his airplane, jotted down the ATIS, obtained his clearance, and taxied out to the run-up area. Everything was a bit faster than normal because he’d called ahead to the FBO and requested they preflight his plane. The short flight had been scheduled as his transportation to a business meeting, and he was already running behind schedule. He put pressure on himself to make the meeting on time.
“Upon completion of my checklist and takeoff preparations, I happened to glance at my iPhone. I saw an urgent message from my daughter,” he wrote.
What followed next was him pulling out of takeoff sequence and a text exchange with her. Once that was sorted out, he picked up where he thought he’d left off — that is, he taxied to the active runway and departed.
“At about 600 AGL, I received a call from the Tower rightfully informing me that I had not called them as ready for takeoff, and they had not cleared me to take off.”
In his report he admitted failure to maintain the correct mindset.
“I was not appropriately relaxed and focused to begin with, and the text message that I happened to see before takeoff added to my distraction.”
Interestingly, he cited his lack of a relaxed state as a contributing factor in his inability to remain focused. Aviation studies have shown that a stressed person is more prone to become fixated, get tunnel vision, and fail to respond to environmental cues. His daughter’s texts exacerbated his stressed condition and caused him to fixate on completing the mission, making him blind to environmental clues, like the checklist sitting in his lap.
“I lost track of where I was in the sequence of my checklist, and I didn’t stop to verify where I was and get back in it,” he wrote.
Having lost track, but determined to make up for lost time, he assumed he was good to go and proceeded to take off.
Some of the corrective actions he vowed to take included turning off his phone and stowing it in his flight bag; writing down all his future clearances, from taxi to takeoff; and doing whatever it takes to get himself focused on the flight before he steps into the plane.
We are taught the flight environment is dynamic, so we learn the mission mindset: Plan for obstacles and prepare to defeat them to accomplish the mission. A Pilatus PC-12 pilot had to file a NASA report because his mission mindset pushed him to continue a takeoff despite trims being out of range.
The Pilatus PC-12. (Photo by Hayman Tam)
During his taxi checks, he tested the autopilot. The yaw trim remained in a full right deflection while the stabilizer trim remained in a “half down” position.
“I missed seeing them out of trim even though I looked,” he wrote.
Once airborne he adjusted the trim and continued the flight.
“I could have caught it either at the checklist or aborted takeoff point of the flight, but didn’t,” he admitted.
He also acknowledged that his mission mindset overrode his “abort unless everything is okay” mindset. The Pilatus PC-12 is a single engine turboprop that produces a tremendous amount of P-factor on takeoff, which requires a large rudder input during takeoff and rotation. His secondary flight controls out of range could have put him in an unrecoverable position during these critical first phases of flight.
The pilot wrote in his report he realized he’d never taken into consideration the real dangers of taking off with his yaw trim and stabilizers fully deflected. He concluded that playing out worst case scenarios in his head might broaden his mission mindset on future flights.
A CFI filed a NASA report after he let his “passenger mindset” result in a near mid-air collision. He and a fellow pilot had flown over to Bob Maxwell Memorial Airfield (KOKB) in Oceanside, California. He’d flown down and it was the other pilot’s turn to fly back.
“I was relaxing and mentally disengaged with more of a passenger mindset,” he wrote.
The two ran through the takeoff procedures after the run-up, and the PIC verbally noted the “fly friendly” noise abatement sign at the departure end of the runway.
They waited while a C-172 took off in front of them. Shortly afterward, his friend took the runway and departed. Initially the two planes flew in trail. Eventually the lead C-172’s path diverged to the left as it followed the river. The flight instructor verbally noted where the traffic was. He received an acknowledgement, but the pilot flying the plane took no corrective action.
“There was a scattered layer above us, which momentarily caused a level-off. On my next glance I noticed the 172 had turned northbound and our courses were nearly perpendicular,” he wrote.
The Cessna 172S.
The level-off to avoid clouds put the two airplanes at the same altitude. The pilot flying acknowledged the other plane’s position, but again failed to take any action. When the flight instructor realized a NMAC was about to occur, he warned the flying pilot, with no resulting action.
“I immediately looked inside and saw the PIC with his head down at the iPad. At that point I assumed the controls and initiated a pitch-up and climbed the aircraft through a break in the clouds,” he wrote.
The Cessna passed below and behind at an estimated range of 400′ diagonally.
During the debrief of the event with his fellow pilot, the flight instructor attributed the NMAC to poor communication and poor crew resource management. His passenger mindset kept him from performing a proper takeoff departure briefing and from paying attention to the mental and psychological condition of the pilot flying.
“Had I personally looked at weather and seen the marine layer approaching, I would have filed for an IFR departure,” he wrote. “We would have been able to climb above the traffic in front of us, and ATC would’ve been there acting as a third set of eyes for safe separation.”
To prevent himself from adopting the passenger mindset, the flight instructor decided in the future he would remain engaged in the flight’s progression and be ready to offer assistance regardless of who was pilot in command.
“I had made the trip to relax and get away for an afternoon, and my decision to disengage from the planning and execution of the return flight proved detrimental and was a missed opportunity to act as a mentor to a fellow aviator,” he concluded.
In contrast, another pilot was totally focused on the task at hand, situationally aware and mentally flexible.
A Cessna 152 flight instructor conducted a flight to practice air work in a local practice area. When done, he decided to head back to his home field. During a shallow descent, he noticed a smell and then saw smoke coming out of his instrument panel.
“I immediately turned all electricals and the master switch off. At this point of time, I wanted to land as soon as possible,” he wrote.
He spotted a field northeast of his position and chose that as his precautionary landing site. He headed to the field and prepared for an off-airport landing. Even though he was high and fast on final approach, he managed to land the plane successfully undamaged.
In his NASA report, he concluded that he saw the incident as an opportunity to teach his students how to mentally prepare for emergency situations in a better way. He had emphasized emergency memory item training as a way to prepare for critical situations. His own off-airport landing showed him that was not enough. He would now equally emphasize the importance of having a mindset focused on situational awareness.
Of all the mindsets I researched for this column, perhaps the best is the “growth mindset.” It’s all about knowing when to stick to one’s beliefs and when to adjust to reality. And all the safest pilots possess it.
Be a better informed pilot.
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Jeffrey Madison
Jeffrey Madison, a pilot since 1995, is an ATP CFI/MEI. He has over 1,000 hours dual given. He has flown into more than 250 GA airports throughout most of the Lower 48. He is a former Part 121 and Part 135 airline captain. You can reach him at HumanFactors@GeneralAviationNews.com
General Aviation News reserves the right to delete snarky, offensive or off-topic comments. See our Comment Policy for more details.
Leland Taylor says
Two mindsets I have developed over my 10,000+ hours, mainly instruction given.
1. “I’m ready for takeoff, AND I”M READY TO ABORT.”
2. “I’m Ready for Landing, AND I”M READY TO GO AROUND.”
Either/both have saved my butt in the past. Especially the “go Around” mental prep.
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Fun in Fight or Flight: A “The Croods” Review
I don’t know what it is about DreamWorks animated films but I always tend to love each one, no matter how predictable, clichéd, and sometimes silly they are.
The Croods is a family of Neanderthal Cavemen (Homo Sapiens Neanderthalensis according to Wikipedia) living in the prehistoric era known as the “Croodaceous” period – a dangerous time when large, carnivorous creatures roamed the planet. Many of the human families they know are already either eaten or died of diseases, but the Croods managed to survive because of the strict rules of Grug (Nicholas Cage), the overprotective father of the family. They stay most of the time inside their cave and living by the principle that anything new is dangerous and that curiosity can only lead to death.
All this change as they are forced out of their cave because of the changing landscape of the planet. Together with Guy (Ryan Reynolds), an intelligent boy they meet with a lot of innovative ideas, the family breaks away from their comfort zone as they travel and go on an adventure towards the paradise they nicknamed “Tomorrow”.
The film was fast-paced, and at the start of the film we already get an idea of how adrenaline-filled it will be. We immediately see the Croods competing with other animals for breakfast football-style as everyone jumps, tackles, and outwits each other to get just a single piece of egg. The movie was full of energy all throughout – consistent with the Fight or Flight world the Croods are in where everything is out to get each other for lunch.
Yo mama so tough, she’s wrestling a bird with horns
The thing with movies about families is you can’t help but worry that something bad is going to happen to one of the members or that one of them would get into big trouble. Thankfully, you don’t have to worry about this with the Croods as you know that every member of the family is tough. Heck, even the baby was scary and the grandma just won’t die. Getting rid of the worry lets you enjoy more the fun part of the film, like the crazy antics of each family member, their reaction to anything new, and the weird but fantastical creatures they encounter. Ever heard of a “Macawnivore”(later called Chunk), a fierce but cute cross between a macaw and a sabertooth? How about “Piranhakeets”(yep, piranhas and parakeets. What could be worse than piranhas with wings?)?
Level Two: A “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials” Review
See what I’m talking about?
Macawnivore
Piranhakeets. Because swimming piranhas are not scary enough
Okay so obviously this is a family-oriented film. But just because it is one doesn’t mean that only sheltered kids and extra-perky moms are going to love it. The movie keeps up a good energy for the whole one and a half hours and that was enough to keep someone like me who was neither a kid nor a parent entertained. The plot was very typical of DreamWorks animations recipe – you know, where we meet crazy characters, then an unusual conflict comes up, a cheesy resolution happens, and finally ending with a happily ever after towards the sunset. But like I said, there’s something about these animated films that make them so loveable, in spite of everyone already knowing the usual routine and the slapstick humour. Maybe it’s the cute characters? Or the animation itself? Or maybe it’s just that these films always hit the right spot where we wish we were kids again.
Credit to all the images in this post go to the “The Croods” Facebook page. I do not own these images. No copyright infringement intended.
Monthly Movie Log
· November 5, 2019
· October 31, 2019
Here’s the Full List of the QCinema 2019 Winners
Previous Kraving for Korean: a “Masil (Seoul Fusion)” Review
Next Action and Adrenaline: An “Olympus Has Fallen” Review
Tricia Tanhueco says:
I've never heard of it but it sounds nice. I would definitely include this in my weekend movie list. 😛
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Riyadh Regime Mounts Rocket Attack on Shiite-Populated City
Riyadh (Tasnim) – The Saudi regime, as part of its clampdown on Shiite Muslims, continued raids on residents of al-Awamiyah in the kingdom’s Eastern Province, mounting a rocket attack against the defenseless people.
The Saudi military targeted the houses of Shiite residents in al-Deira neighborhood of Awamiyah with mortar rockets, the Arabic-language al-Ahed news website reported on Saturday.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in the attacks.
The kingdom’s forces began to carry out attacks on the residents of Awamiyah last month.
Media reports say the regime’s security forces have killed at least four citizens and injured many others in the city so far.
RELATED: Anti-Regime Protests Continue in Bahrain [+Photos]
Al-Awamiyah, a town of 30,000 in the Shiite-majority Qatif district, was the home of Nimr al-Nimr, a Shiite cleric put to death in January 2016 over trumped-up charges.
The Shiite-populated Eastern Province has been the scene of peaceful demonstrations since February 2011. Protesters have been demanding reforms, freedom of expression, the release of political prisoners, and an end to economic and religious discrimination against the oil-rich region.
The protests have been met with a heavy-handed crackdown by the regime.
This post originally ran on Tasnim News Agency.
The Saudis Are Bombing Their Own People And Nobody's Talking About it
Anti-Regime Protests Continue in Bahrain [+Photos]
Canada Investigates Saudi Arabia's Use of Arms in Eastern Crackdown
Bahrain Sentences Six to Death for ‘Assassination Plot’
UN Urges Bahrain to End Torture, Solitary Confinement
Awamiyah: Saudis Relocate Tens of Thousands of Shia Away from…
Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and the Media's Hypocritical Outrage…
Bahrain State TV Accuses Qatar of Trying to Oust Government
Previous Post: NATO’s Military Frontier – and Fake Stories
Next Post: Ayatollah: Terrorist US Destabilized Middle East
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Social Entrepreneurship Toggle Dropdown
Contact me: Entrepreneurship Librarian
Carey Toane
Social: LinkedIn Page
Whether you're new to commercialization or an experienced entrepreneur, this guide is a quick and easy way to access the most useful resources the library has to offer, including market research, journals, books, toolkits, and information on financing and business plans.
If you have questions about these resources, or about your research in general, please contact the Gerstein Science Information Centre at ask.gerstein@utoronto.ca. We love to hear about your ventures!
Please note that market research consultations at ONRamp and Gerstein are on hold through to the end of February 2020.
We offer a robust series of library workshops for startups, updated in our workshops guide.
Please note that the Entrepreneurship Research Skills workshops at St George Campus, as well as the Legal Office Hours and Tax Literacy workshops are on hold through to the end of February 2020.
The UTL Entrepreneurship Digest newsletter is also on hold through to the end of February 2020.
Campus and community links
University of Toronto Entrepreneurship Office - Helping students and researchers make the leap from idea to commercialization are 11 incubators across U of T’s three campuses. Budding entrepreneurs can also meet up and collaborate at ONRamp. Find a list of campus accelerators and incubators as well as a directory of U of T startups.
The Innovations & Partnerships Office (IPO) helps build successful partnerships between industry, business, government, and the University of Toronto research community and manages U of T’s portfolio of intellectual property. See their Startup Guidebook and Inventor's Guide.
User Experience (UX) Lab - Located at Robarts Library, the UX Lab is the University's first space dedicated to studying and supporting User Experience (UX) research and design. The UX Lab is open to U of T students, staff, and faculty by appointment or during weekly drop-in sessions.
MADLab - Located at Gerstein Science Information Centre, MADLab is devoted to accelerating mobile software development at University of Toronto. The Lab hosts equipment (3D Printers, VR), collaborative workspace, user groups, one-on-one consultations, and workshops, and is open to all University of Toronto students, staff and faculty. Other 3D printing services on campus include Robarts Library, UTSC Library makerspace, MedPrint, and the Hatchery.
The Milt Harris Library (formerly the Business Information Centre) at the Rotman School of Management offers support for business research including entrepreneurship.
As the regional innovation centre for Toronto, MaRS Market Intelligence supports U of T startups with a variety of programs and services including the Startup Library and regular events.
Toronto Public Library provides access to business databases and online research tools for current U of T students and all residents of Toronto.
Next: Market Research >>
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Fic to come ... (Alas, I don't have anything ready!) Instead of fic, I present an AU Lost rock 'n' roll picspam, inspired by haldoor's lostsquee prompt and the fics that resulted from it: (Pardon the crappy photoshopping!)
Sayid spent many long hours practicing guitar. If he was going to be the first Bollywood country superstar, he'd have to be good!
Then his family moved to Seattle and he discovered rock! He quickly became a rock GOD, joining a band called Soundgarden.
The original members were Desmond Hume, Jin Kwon, Sayid Jarrah and James Ford.
Then Jin left the band, to be replaced by a new guy named Ben Shepherd Jack Shepherd. They toured the world, had a lot of sex with each other with groupies and eventually split up, to the dismay of all their fans.
And of course ... the real band, with its original lineup of Kim Thayil, Hiro Yamamoto, Chris Cornell and Matt Cameron.
", "url": "https://halfdutch.livejournal.com/402359.html", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y24/halfdutch/Picspams/f359b036.jpg" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "halfdutch", "image": "https://l-userpic.livejournal.com/38910805/5175492" }, "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Journal halfdutch", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://halfdutch.livejournal.com", "contentUrl": "https://l-userpic.livejournal.com/38910805/5175492" } } }
The happiest of birthdays to the fabulous zelda_zee! May you have a day as fantastic and charming as you are!
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Home > Olympic Games > Winter > Sports > Skiing > Cross Country Skiing > Individual Sprint Classical
Cross Country Skiing Individual Sprint Classical
Recommended Olympics Links
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Here's a quick guide to everything you need to know in order to catch every event at this year's Winter Olympics. It is the first time TV viewers in all US time zones will have access to live coverage instead of delayed replay, which makes it even more exciting to get in on the action.
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Congratulations to Leslie McEwan (Massachusetts) and Diana Giblette (Colorado) who were both randomly selected to win a SET of R. Scott Bakker’s The Prince of Nothing Trilogy (New Paperback Editions) including copies of The Darkness that Comes Before, The Warrior Prophet, and The Thousandfold Thought!!! Each winner will also receive an ADVANCE READING COPY of R. Scott Bakker’s new book “The Judging Eye”, all thanks to The Overlook Press! “The Judging Eye” will be officially released in the U.S. on January 22, 2009 with a review forthcoming from Liviu C. Suciu :)
In news, Night Shade Books has joined forces with World Fantasy Award-nominated magazine Electric Velocipede. Like a pair of steam-powered metal titans joined together to form a mighty behemoth, the pair plans to march forward in unison, changing the genre fiction battlefield for the better.
Electric Velocipede is a critically acclaimed science fiction/fantasy/cross-genre magazine published twice a year. Issues of Electric Velocipede have included works by award-winning authors such as Jeffrey Ford, Jeff VanderMeer, Alex Irvine, Liz Williams, Hal Duncan, Charles Coleman Finlay, and others. Many stories appearing in Electric Velocipede have appeared in the recommended reading lists for both the Year's Best Fantasy & Horror and Year's Best Science Fiction for several years running. Electric Velocipede editor John Klima will remain at the helm of the magazine, relying on Night Shade Books' expertise and deep market penetration to help shepherd the magazine to the next level.
In celebration of this momentous alliance, Night Shade Books and Electric Velocipede are proud to announce a subscription drive: sign up for a one year subscription or renewal, and we'll send you your choice of any two in-print Night Shade paperbacks or trade hardcovers! Just list your selections in the comments field when placing your order. Sorry, this offer applies only to United States subscribers only. Books must be in-print and available from Night Shade Books at the time the order is placed, and will be shipped concurrently with Electric Velocipede double issue #15/16. Night Shade Books reserves the right to make substitutions.
Subscriptions are for four issues, starting with the current issue. New subscriptions will begin with double issue #15/16. Double issues will be counted as two issues. Renewals are also four issues, starting with the next issue after your current subscription ends. Offer expires January 8, 2009. For more information, visit www.nightshadebooks.com/velocipede
Moving on, John Jarrold has concluded a three-book deal for Australian fantasy writer Rowena Cory Daniells with Christian Dunn of Solaris, the mainstream genre imprint of Games Workshop’s publishing division, BL Publishing. The series is entitled King Rolen’s Kin and the first book, provisionally called “Byren’s Bane”, is due for publication in early 2010. The deal is for World English Language rights.
The books follow the lives of three of King Rolen’s heirs, when their kingdom, Rolencia, is invaded by their ancestral enemy, Merofynia. A sweeping fantasy adventure, the narrative explores the eternal questions of ambition, trust and betrayal.
Rowena Cory Daniells first became involved in speculative fiction in 1976. Since then she has run a bookshop, then a graphic art studio where she illustrated children's books, sold nearly thirty children's books and a fantasy trilogy (The Last T’En) internationally, established R&D Studios and served on the management committees of state and national arts organizations. She lives by the bay in Brisbane with her husband and children, and has a Masters in Arts (Research).
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https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/mg91_trV4hY?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0
E)Google Search
DEC 14 SEARCH
The Year in Search: 2016
It’s time to look back and reflect on the trends that defined the year in Google Search. Dive into google.com/2016 to see lists from around the world, including all of the people, topics and questions we searched for this year. READ MORE
2 DAYS AGO MAPS
Google Santa Tracker: ready for take-off
4 DAYS AGO GOOGLE IN ASIA. It’s time to look back and reflect on the trends that defined the year in Google Search. Dive into google.com/2016 to see lists from around the world, including all of the people. Topics and questions we searched for this year. READ MORE.
High-speed Wi-Fi rolls into 100th railway station in India
6 DAYS AGO GOOGLE.ORG
The Year in Search: 2016. It’s time to look back and reflect on the trends that defined the year in Google Search. Dive into google.com/2016 to see lists from around the world, including all of the people. Topics and questions we searched for this year. READ MORE
It’s time to look back and reflect on the trends that defined the year in Google. Dive into google.com/2016 to see lists from around the world. Including all of the people, topics and questions we searched for this year. READ MORE Earthtopomaps.
Supporting nonprofits around the world this
HelpPrivacyTermsAbout GoogleGoogle Products It’s time to look back and reflect on the trends that defined the year in Google Search. Dive into google.com/2016 to see lists from around the world, including all of the people, topics and questions we searched for this year. READ MORE. X)It’s time to look back and reflect on the trends that defined the year in Google Search. Dive into google.com/2016 to see lists from around the world, including all of the people, topics and questions we searched for this year. READ MORE
It’s time to look back and reflect on the trends that defined the year in Google. Dive into google.com/2016 to see lists from around the world, including all of the people, topics and questions we searched for this year. READ MORE Earthtopomaps It’s time to look back and reflect on the trends that defined the year in Google. Dive into google.com/2016 to see lists from around the world, including all of the people, topics and questions we searched for this year. READ MORE Earthtopomaps It’s time to look back and reflect on the trends that defined the year in Google. Dive into google.com/2016 to see lists from around the world, including all of the people, topics and questions we searched for this year. READ MORE earthtopomaps
Format ImagePosted on 26 December 2016 28 April 2017 Categories google searchTags google search
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A Democrat attempt to block President Trump’s national emergency is virtually dead in the water after the White House issued a preemptive veto threat.
In a statement from the White House, the administration laid out why the declaration is a matter of national security, and said efforts to block it undermine the president’s ability to respond effectively to security threats.
This comes as a resolution makes its way through Congress, and is expected to pass the House and Senate Tuesday. This would be the first veto President Trump has issued since taking office.
Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers are blasting Democrats over their efforts to block the national emergency declaration.
On Tuesday, Utah Congressman Chris Stewart vowed to vote against the bill, because it denies there is an emergency at the border. Stewart said while he doesn’t support President Trump curtailing Congress, he does believe the border crisis does constitute a national emergency. He added, the declaration could have been avoided entirely if Democrats had come to the table beforehand.
“It’s really too bad because there’s a wasted opportunity here., there is a lot of conservatives that have been uncomfortable with this emergency power precedence,” he stated. “If the Democrats had been willing to work with us on something more broad and something that would have applied in future situations, I think they would have had a much more bipartisan response to that.”
However, the congressman did voice the concern future presidents could weaponize national emergencies if Congress doesn’t approve certain legislation.
Ohio’s Race For 12th District Too Close To Call
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WasteWise
Saldanha Bay Municipality
Averda Atlantic Seaboard
Where Should the ‘Responsibility’ in CSR End?
Nov 12, 2013 | Resources - General Interest | 0 comments
By Thomas Kolster, author of Goodvertising
When a factory building in Bangladesh collapses, people start waving their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) banners, much in the same way heat waves or heavy rains remind us of climate change, only to be all but forgotten a few weeks later when the latest pop star does something stupid and is caught on camera.
Only rolling out the CSR machinery in the event of a crisis is just not good enough. If that is all you do, you may as well fire your CSR team, axe the CSR report and relegate the CSR department to legal.
Economist and free market fundamentalist Milton Friedman didn’t mince his words (or soften his heart) when he said, “The only business of business is business, and staying within the limits of the law.”
But let Friedman make his own way towards social and environmental collapse. Today, firms see CSR as not just responsibility, but as an opportunity for creating value – a common value for brand, bottom line, people and the environment.
Redefining the business of business
The CEO of Unilever, Paul Polman, has set an ambitious target for Unilever: to simultaneously double revenue and halve the company’s environmental impact by 2020. While Unilever is sounding a rallying cry for common values, the company also beats the growth rates of its competitors, P&G and Nestlé.
A group of forward-thinking business people such as Paul Polman, Virgin’s Richard Branson and Jochen Zeitz from Kering have launched the organisation The B Team, with the goal of redefining the business of business, so that profit flows from a point of co-existence instead of at the expense of people and the environment. If Friedman is the A Team, we all know which team to cheer for.
Value for shareholders vs value for stakeholders
For the many textile merchants (or call them fashion brands if you want), the Dhaka building collapse in Bangladesh – leaving more than a thousand dead and several thousand wounded – was a dire warning. Consumers were shown in horrifying TV pictures illustrating who really pays the price for a cheap t-shirt.
On the other end of the scale, you find the Belgian clothes company Honest By, which aims to be 100 percent transparent with regard to how they obtain fabrics, manufacture and even price their goods – and on top of that, they donate 20 percent of the company’s profits to charity.
What we have here are two visions at war: value for the shareholders versus value for the stakeholders. This defines stakeholders in the broadest possible sense though: the company, investors, customers and the rest of us inhabiting the same planet as the company. The supporters of the former vision are dwindling, while the numbers of the latter are growing.
Consumers have a choice!
A company like Coca-Cola has also started to look at the challenges they face. This spring, the company launched an anti-obesity campaign, and, like McDonald’s and many others in the “heavy weight” industry, they chose to highlight the customer’s choice between non-sugary soft drinks and the less healthy alternatives. The core argument is: we offer our customers the choice between healthy and unhealthy – now it is their responsibility what to choose.
At the same time, Coca-Cola is actively working to counter the negative effect of their products through TV ads encouraging exercise and a healthier lifestyle. Coca-Cola has not taken the road of responsibility purely out of concern – there is a lot of money at stake. Actively, Coca-Cola has proven to investors and consumers that they have a considered strategy in place. Now all that remains is for them to convince all of us that they mean it. From cradle to grave; all along the value chain.
Where do we draw the limits for responsibility?
A company’s responsibility used to stop at the factory gates, but now covers the entire life cycle of the product from cradle to grave – as in Unilever taking responsibility for reducing the amount of water you need when washing your hair with a shampoo they produce.
But where does this responsibility end? Should the alcohol industry be held responsible for the 2.5 millions alcohol-related deaths every year? Can the fashion industry be blamed for anorexia and unhealthy body image issues amongst young women?
Rules or voluntary action
Every year, the Danish Ministry of Health spends millions of taxpayers’ kroners on campaigns designed to encourage Danes to drink less and exercise more. But this is just a drop in the ocean compared to the advertising budget of the alcohol and fast food industries. Perhaps it is not so strange that the effect of this messaging is lost along the way?
In the USA, it is now law that the tobacco industry must inform people about the ill effects of smoking on your health. Maybe this could become reality in more industries if rules win out over voluntary action?
Innovation should serve sustainability
Last spring I interviewed Hannah Jones, VP of Sustainable Business & Innovation at Nike. Notice her title: innovation must integrate with sustainability. Hannah spoke of how the accusations leveled at Nike in the nineties, which claimed they used child labour, were the greatest threat to the company, but at the same time the company’s biggest gift and a golden opportunity.
It made them embrace and eventually spearhead a wave that has revolutionized their industry. CSR is only valuable when it is strategically integrated in the company.
Another example of sustainable innovation is Volvo, whose sturdy-looking vehicles have always been a symbol of safety. Volvo is now taking an innovative step beyond mere responsibility for their customers. They promise that by 2020, no one will die or be seriously injured in a Volvo – including the pedestrians outside the vehicle.
Two of their latest innovations are Pedestrian Detection, where the car automatically scans for pedestrians and brakes before a collision, and Pedestrian Airbag Technology, an airbag that protects pedestrians in a collision – outside the car! Volvo shows the way for an entire industry – and shows that a sustainable approach to innovation is the way ahead, rather than this year’s new diamond-shaped headlight design.
Thomas Kolster is the author of Goodvertising, speaker, founder and director of Goodvertising Agency and the world’s 1st hub for sustainability initiatives: WhereGoodGrows. Follow him here: @thomaskolster
From: http://www.triplepundit.com/2013/09/corporate-social-responsibility-threat-potential/
Resources – General Interest
Premature Imitation, Western Elites and Flailing States
Remembering a sustainability pioneer: Tom McLaughlin
How Google saved over 6 million pounds of food waste in its staff cafés.
2019: Some notes on the year ahead
Paper & Packaging Industry’s ‘Municipal Fund’ to support waste management challenges including separation-at-source recycling projects.
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How To Choose A University (UK)
This article was co-authored by Cassandra Lenfert Cassandra Lenfert is a CPA and CFP® in Colorado. There have been moves to give universities more autonomy , to increase funding , to engage with the rankings But there is little sign that India is ready to acknowledge the underlying problems of the absence of a serious research culture or a secondary school system that seems unable to prepare students for tertiary education.
How to Take an SAT Observe Test
Ready to imitate the official expertise? Implausible! Here’s what to do:
Set aside approximately four hours of uninterrupted time to take the apply take a look at.
Try to take your entire observe test in a single sitting.
Give yourself a short, 10-minute break after the Studying check.
Give yourself a short, 5-minute break after the Math (No Calculator) test.
Take the test in a quiet place where you won’t be distracted.
Mimic take a look at day circumstances by turning off your telephone and leaving it in another room.
Use a countdown timer and keep in mind to reset it for each check.
Eat a wholesome, energizing snack earlier than taking the follow test.
After the take a look at, verify your answers and make word of any questions you missed.
Watch the explanation video for every query you get flawed, so that you don’t repeat the identical mistakes on check day!
Sign up for Magoosh SAT Prep and gain access to more practice questions.
A ultimate phrase on examining these results”it’s a good idea to spend no less than as a lot time examining your outcomes as you did taking the test. Why? Properly, did you get a query proper since you knew the reply, or because you were guessing? Did you get a question unsuitable because you stuffed within the flawed bubble? (Practice checks help loads with this latter problem, by the way in which!) After you have examined your results, do some observe in your weak areas and take another test. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Okazuje się, że takie niepozorne i wyglądające abstrakcyjnie równanie (picrel) może posłużyć do szukania rozwiązywalnych ściśle modeli dwuwymiarowych w fizyce statystycznej, np. niektórych sieci krystalicznych, i wiąże je z topologią, a czasami pozwala sprowadzić rachunki do użycia prostych tożsamości trygonometrycznych.
Second, the federal courts should adopt a more pragmatic mode of equal protection analysis in considering claims against deregulated schools, rather than presuming college board clep that status-identifiable charter schools should be subjected to heightened scrutiny, or that heightened scrutiny requires finding such schools unconstitutional.
What we all know: The SAT favors affluent college students greater than grade level averages do. However there’s additionally little evidence that more faculties going “check non-compulsory” would stage the playing area.
Tough also takes purpose at an evaluation of highschool grade inflation revealed in a 2018 e-book edited by School Board-affiliated researchers. It reveals that grades at high schools serving affluent and white college students are rising faster than GPAs at colleges serving largely students from low-revenue families. Separate analysis in North Carolina has found a similar phenomenon.
These results have been broadly publicized, and the School Board used them to counsel the downside of shifting away from admissions checks like the SAT.
“Submitting SAT scores as half of a school utility can open doorways to opportunity not just for a privileged few, but for all college students,” reads a School Board-sponsored piece targeted on the examine’s findings.
But Powerful points out that different elements of the research, in addition to other research, don’t help the concept that GPA offers extra advantaged students a leg up.
At the coed degree, GPA will increase between 2001 and 2016 have been comparable for black college students (+.11) and white students (+.12). College students with highly educated mother and father noticed only barely bigger will increase (+.15) than college students whose dad and mom hadn’t accomplished high school (+.11). (One exception was Hispanic college students, who have seen minimal GPA will increase over that time.)
SAT scores are correlated with race and household earnings, far more so than high school GPA ” a reality different researchers notice in the identical ebook. “Research have discovered that students who’ve larger [high school] GPAs than take a look at scores tend to be female, minorÂity, and lowÂ-revenue students,” they write.
Coleman says the key fact is that the SAT may also help predict, together with GPA, which college students will do effectively in school.
“That debate is to me, tired,” he said. “What’s evident is that two sources of knowledge, like so many instances in life, are a couple of.” (Research helps that declare, although highschool GPA alone is extra predictive than SAT scores alone.) Coleman has also stated that poor SAT scores “should not be a veto on any scholar’s life.”
Tough zeroes in on expensive take a look at prep as a key driver of the disparities between the SAT scores of different groups. However here he is on weaker ground: analysis has found that check prep gives students only a modest enhance, and enormous check score gaps exist on exams that college students are unlikely to explicitly put together for.
What all of this implies for the fight to make faculty admissions more equitable is unclear. Tough is extremely important of the SAT, but acknowledges that empirical research has not discovered that colleges develop into more racially or economically numerous after they drop SAT or ACT necessities.
Coleman additionally argues that, if extra faculties shifted consideration from take a look at scores to grades, prosperous students’ GPAs would rise at an much more rapid clip. “Let’s not be naïve,” he mentioned.
In general, he says, people should not expect that the SAT to mitigate the realities of poverty. As inequality persists, checks will replicate them.
“We can empower extra people to observe, to grow, to defy those,” he said. “It ought to never blind us to their results.”
College board observe test
As a standardized check, the SAT has the popularity of being predictable. Nonetheless, the scoring curves on the latest SAT tests have been surprising ” and that is troubling for a lot of college students. The College Board has been struggling to create tests of constant problem and has erred on the s >The form of scoring scales we’re seeing on recent exams have been shocking to college students, main tens of thousands of students to lend their signatures to online petitions calling on the CollegeBoard to rescore the tests in query.
The first issue is one in all calibration of expectations . The research supplies and observe tests formally launched by the Faculty Board don’t replicate the sort of scoring curves the scholars will see on their actual assessments. This misalignment of expectations is a significant drawback. If it intends to continue to manage simpler checks with robust curves, The School Board needs to update its observe supplies so college students could have an correct sense of their expected testing outcomes.
It appears the first driver behind the steep scoring curves of latest testing administrations is the failure to precisely pretest and norm questions. The School Board distanced itself from the Academic Testing Service and took its pre-testing in-house. Previously, the Faculty Board normed questions using an experimental section that was administered with every SAT, resulting in a broad nationwide sample of scholars. After parting ways with ETS, the Faculty Board began to norm its questions utilizing a sample of students who were opting out of the essay part. At that time, the essay was required by most of the most selective schools in the nation, and thus the non-essay cohort of scholars were comparatively weaker check takers than the cohort of students who took the essay. Moreover, the fact that the section did not depend ” and the scholars knew it ” may have influenced the performance of sure groups of scholars. Ultimately, gadgets that appeared arduous to this group did not appear as difficult to students at the upper end of the scoring spectrum. This turned a problem when the check items were given on actual SAT exams as a result of too many students received them proper. When too many students are acing the “exhausting items,” the curve will probably be a lot steeper, and single errors will come at a a lot better cost in direction of the higher finish of the dimensions.
The School Board Tweaked The SAT Adversity Score. Can It Undo The Damage It Precipitated?
Since David Coleman took the helm on the Faculty Board, its flagship product-the ubiquitous SAT, one-time queen of faculty entrance exams-has been the victim of a series of unforced errors. The roll-out and stroll-again of the “adversity score” is barely the newest-and up to date experiences of that score’s dying may be drastically exaggerated.
The firm ran into some glitches in its rush to get a brand new, Frequent Core-aligned take a look at to market. Coleman expressed a desire for the check to be a terrific leveler, a check that might recognize and elevate mental prowess wherever it was found. The SAT has long been criticized as being loaded with cultural bias, and the School Board’s own information appears to support that assertion. The opposite knock on the take a look at was that it could possibly be overwhelmed with the assistance of take a look at prep and training (a criticism bolstered by a whole SAT test prep industry). And the College Board has been confirming that these criticisms are legitimate.
In 2014, the School Board entered right into a partnership with Khan Academy to offer free take a look at prep to anybody who wished it. Somewhat than designing a test that was immune to check prep (which can, in actual fact, be unattainable), the School Board seemed to be conceding that SAT scores measured, at least partly, how nicely a student had been coached for the check.
Then came the Environmental Context Dashboard, that includes the Adversity Score. The score was speculated to seize the social and economic background of students by way of a mix of fifteen dimensions. But though it was supposedly “steeped in research,” the genesis of the rating remained a proprietary mystery, by some means combining elements from school and community. The outcome would be a rating between 1-one hundred, with a rating of greater than 50 representing drawback and a rating below 50 indicating some privilege. Critics attacked the notion of reducing a pupil’s whole background to a single rating. They criticized it for being an attack on meritocracy. And most of all, they criticized it for being an admission that the SAT itself is a biased test given on a tilted enjoying field. Meredith Twombly, vice chairman of admissions and monetary assist, at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, one of many many take a look at-non-obligatory faculties within the U.S., had a typical response:
For a long time the Faculty Board stated the SAT alone is the perfect unbiased, objective indicator of success and likened it to an equalizer. The creation of the ECD is the SAT proving the purpose they have been denying.”
Hence the low position of the London School of Economics , caused primarily by its citations score, is a result not of the output of an outstanding institution but the database and the fact that the LSE does not have the counterweight of a large natural science base.
Practice makes every part simpler, and that includes the SAT test. If you’re searching for a solution to increase your probability of getting a excessive score in SAT, you could do extra than just finding out the matters; it is advisable apply taking the check itself via SAT follow tests.
What is the SAT Apply Test?
SAT Apply Checks are similar to the actual SAT test with these functions:
To test your readiness for the SAT.
To familiarize you with the SAT test structure to reduce anxiety.
To show you how to spot your weak areas, so you will know where to give attention to when you research.
To help you strengthen the skills needed to achieve your desired SAT rating, comparable to crucial thinking expertise, analytical expertise, and downside-fixing expertise.
To put your information and ideas you have reviewed into apply so you possibly can keep in mind them.
The Admissions Committee encourages admitted students to defer enrollment for one year to travel, pursue a special project or activity, work, or spend time in another meaningful way”provided they do not enroll in a degree-granting program at another college.
Very useful information,I am a student in IrelandIt is very hard to find jobs so one can save for college.I just made an application for a 3yr BA starting September 2012 to NUI Maynooth ,one of the universities in Ireland and the fees are 11 500 euro per year.I don’t have that kind of money but I will keep writing to organisations to see if I can get financial help.Education affordability will always be a barrier between the rich and the poor.I wish there could be scholarships to enable the poor to make a breakthrough.
SAT and SAT Topic Assessments
The SAT is a charge-primarily based standardized check for college admissions within the United States first administered in 1926. [10] Checks start at $46 and go as much as $60 for an additional essay. As well as, there are numerous fees that may accumulate. Registering later leads to a $29 payment, registering by phone results in a $15 fee and altering a test date, heart, or check sort ends in a $29 price. The waitlist testing charge is $49 and every further rating report is $12. Consequently, student testing fees can typically run as much as $200 or more for a single take a look at. [11] The SAT is administered by Faculty Board within the United States and is developed, printed, and scored by the Educational Testing Service (ETS). The SAT covers writing, studying, and arithmetic. SAT scores vary from four hundred to 1600, with each of the 2 sections value as much as 800 factors. Most college students take the check throughout their junior or senior year of high school. In the market, the SAT competes with the ACT, one other standardized faculty admissions test.
The SAT Topic Tests are supposed to measure student efficiency in specific areas, resembling mathematics, science, and historical past.
To get accepted to the college of your choice, you need to do well on the SATs. Test-Guide.com will help you ace your SAT exams. Understand SAT requirements, learn about SAT study guides, and discover when and where the SAT tests are given. Use our free SAT Practice tests.
What is a Good SAT Score?
To answer the question “What is A Good SAT Score?” we are going to walk you through a few things. The number one thing to keep in mind is that a “good” SAT score will mean something different to every person that reads this article. Your main goal is to get a SAT score that gets you into the college of your choice and earns you the most or necessary amount of scholarship money you need to attend that college.
Throughout this article we are going to discuss how SAT scores are calculated, how those scores compare nationally (percentiles), the average accepted SAT scores at universities across the country, and tips and tricks for improving your score.
SAT Words Vocab List and Flashcards
Increasing your vocabulary is a guaranteed way to improve your scores on the SAT Critical Reading section. The SAT critical reading section has two components (sentence completion and passage-based reading questions) that require strong vocab skills in order to score well. An analysis of previously administered tests reveals that knowing the definition and usage of common SAT words is critical.
Test-Guide.com editors have compiled a list of the most common SAT vocab words that students have trouble with. We used these SAT common words to create convenient online flashcards that will help you master their definitions.
The SAT Test is given seven times a year, as listed in the table below. The standard test dates are on Saturdays, although tests may be taken on a Sunday for students who cannot test on a Saturday. Most high school students choose to take the SAT Test during the spring of their junior year and/or the fall of their senior year. The regular registration deadline is approximately one month before the test date. Students may also pay an additional fee for late registration options.
You must also include the following oath: I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct, and that I am the person named above, and I understand that any falsification of this statement is punishable under the provisions continue of 18 U.S.C. Section 1001 by a fine of not more than $10,000 or by imprisonment of not more than five years or both, and that requesting or obtaining any record(s) under false pretenses is punishable under the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552a(i)(3) by a fine of not more than $5,000.
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Chiron in Sagittarius Meaning, Natal Birth Chart, Chiron Astrology Free Interpretations
Chiron in Sagittarius
These people are repeatedly forced to experience religious and ideology crisis and face doubts about the meaning of life. The world seems to them like a ship full of crazy people where no rules apply, and they are unable to find a meaningful place in it. They feel like trusting and naive outlanders, foreigners in their own country, while others seem to them invulnerable. Their injury has a name - spleen.
Chiron in: Ari, Tau, Gem, Can, Leo, Vir, Lib, Sco, Sag, Cap, Aqu, Pis,
Chiron - astrology meaning
Wounded Healer, inner teacher
Chiron is an asteroid between Saturn and Uranus. Its orbit is very unusual and represents a bridge between material and spiritual worlds.
According to mythology, Chiron was a great healer, wise teacher and one of the immortal Centaurs. Unfortunately, he was "deadly" injured by a poisonous arrow by Heracles, his favourite disciple. He was suffering in great pain but he could not die. Finally, he gave up his immortality for the benefit of Prometheus who was also suffering, and Chiron was sent to the underworld. In the underworld Zeus had mercy for him and he raised him to the heaven.
In astrology, Chiron symbolises our unhealable injuries and incurable trauma. However, if a person, instead of drowning in his own trauma, is able to accept the trauma and help others who are also suffering, and accept that suffering is part of life, then Chiron may be the key to wisdom, or even to some sort of "Initiation Gate".
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Rockmaster Scott & The Dynamic 3 – It’s Life (You Gotta Think Twice)
Leave a Comment / Hip Hop Vinyl 1979-1986, profile records, reality records, rock master scott & the dynamic three, US / By slick
Reality Records (US) [IR1374] 1983
Hailing from the Bronx, NY, The Dynamic Three began life as Charlie D & The Crew. The trio of Charlie Prince (Charles Pettiford), Slick Rick (Richard Fowler – Not to be confused with Slick Rick of Def Jam fame) and Buster were originally put together by Master Blaster Greg aka MBG (Greg Wigfall) for a local show in Connecticut. Buster was actually a member of another group at the time so on their return to New York he left the trio and MBG decided to include himself and rename the group The Devilish Three.
The group entered a battle at a club called Your Spot, owned by Jerry Bloodrock. They were without a DJ at the time so recruited local DJ, Kool Dee. The Devilish Three won the battle and at the same time met a DJ from one of the other groups called Master Scott (Mark Scott) who went on to become their permanent DJ.
After performing at many shows, the buzz got back to Jerry Bloodrock and he signed the group to record for him, becoming both their producer and promoter. It was Jerry’s idea to change Master Scott’s name to Rock Master Scott and typical of groups at the time they went with the DJ lead and renamed themselves Rock Master Scott & The Dynamic Three.
‘It’s Life’ was the debut recording with music by, among others, DJ Whiz Kid & Jay Burnett. The track was hugely successful and was picked up by Profile Records and reissued the same year with wider distribution. However, the Profile release was a shorter version with one less verse than the Reality issue.
Reality Release [IR1374] 1983
It’s Life (You Gotta Think Twice) [7:10]
It’s Life (You Gotta Think Twice) (Instrumental) [6:46]
Profile Release [PRO-7023] 1983
It’s Life (You Gotta Think Twice) (Bonus Version) [4:45]
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After India's Amazon snub, Modi's party slams Bezos-owned Washington Post 01/17/2020 11:37pm
Trump previously said Ken Starr, who will represent him in the impeachment trial, was a 'freak,' a 'lunatic,' and a 'disaster' who might have 'something in his closet' 01/17/2020 11:37pm
Pentagon leaders didn't know US troops were injured in Iran's missile attack until a week later, DoD says 01/17/2020 11:37pm
Posted in WallSt, ZeroHedge
Kunstler Warns “Some Kind Of Epic National Restructuring Is In The Works”
Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,
And so the sun seems to stand still this last day before the resumption of business-as-usual, and whatever remains of labor in this sclerotic republic takes its ease in the ominous late summer heat, and the people across this land marinate in anxious uncertainty.
Some kind of epic national restructuring is in the works. It will either happen consciously and deliberately or it will be forced on us by circumstance. One side wants to magically reenact the 1950s; the other wants a Gnostic transhuman utopia. Neither of these is a plausible outcome.
Most of the arguments ranging around them are what Jordan Peterson calls “pseudo issues.” Let’s try to take stock of what the real issues might be.
The shale oil “miracle” was a stunt enabled by supernaturally low interest rates, i.e. Federal Reserve policy. Even The New York Times said so yesterday (The Next Financial Crisis Lurks Underground). For all that, the shale oil producers still couldn’t make money at it. If interest rates go up, the industry will choke on the debt it has already accumulated and lose access to new loans. If the Fed reverses its current course – say, to rescue the stock and bond markets – then the shale oil industry has perhaps three more years before it collapses on a geological basis, maybe less. After that, we’re out of tricks. It will affect everything.
The perceived solution is to run all our stuff on electricity, with the electricity produced by other means than fossil fuels, so-called alt energy. This will only happen on the most limited basis and perhaps not at all. (And it is apart from the question of the decrepit electric grid itself.) What’s required is a political conversation about how we inhabit the landscape, how we do business, and what kind of business we do. The prospect of dismantling suburbia — or at least moving out of it — is evidently unthinkable. But it’s going to happen whether we make plans and policies, or we’re dragged kicking and screaming away from it.
Corporate tyranny
The nation is groaning under despotic corporate rule. The fragility of these operations is moving toward criticality. As with shale oil, they depend largely on dishonest financial legerdemain. They are also threatened by the crack-up of globalism, and its 12,000-mile supply lines, now well underway. Get ready for business at a much smaller scale.
Hard as this sounds, it presents great opportunities for making Americans useful again, that is, giving them something to do, a meaningful place in society, and livelihoods. The implosion of national chain retail is already underway. Amazon is not the answer, because each Amazon sales item requires a separate truck trip to its destination, and that just doesn’t square with our energy predicament. We’ve got to rebuild main street economies and the layers of local and regional distribution that support them. That’s where many jobs and careers are.
Climate change is most immediately affecting farming. 2018 will be a year of bad harvests in many parts of the world. Agri-biz style farming, based on oil-and-gas plus bank loans is a ruinous practice, and will not continue in any case. Can we make choices and policies to promote a return to smaller scale farming with intelligent methods rather than just brute industrial force plus debt? If we don’t, a lot of people will starve to death. By the way, here is the useful work for a large number of citizens currently regarded as unemployable for one reason or another.
Pervasive racketeering rules because we allow it to, especially in education and medicine. Both are self-destructing under the weight of their own money-grubbing schemes. Both are destined to be severely downscaled. A lot of colleges will go out of business. Most college loans will never be paid back (and the derivatives based on them will blow up). We need millions of small farmers more than we need millions of communications majors with a public relations minor. It may be too late for a single-payer medical system. A collapsing oil-based industrial economy means a lack of capital, and fiscal hocus-pocus is just another form of racketeering. Medicine will have to get smaller and less complex and that means local clinic-based health care. Lots of careers there, and that is where things are going, so get ready.
Government over-reach
The leviathan state is too large, too reckless, and too corrupt. Insolvency will eventually reduce its scope and scale. Most immediately, the giant matrix of domestic spying agencies has turned on American citizens. It will resist at all costs being dismantled or even reined in. One task at hand is to prosecute the people in the Department of Justice and the FBI who ran illegal political operations in and around the 2016 election. These are agencies which use their considerable power to destroy the lives of individual citizens. Their officers must answer to grand juries.
As with everything else on the table for debate, the reach and scope of US imperial arrangements has to be reduced. It’s happening already, whether we like it or not, as geopolitical relations shift drastically and the other nations on the planet scramble for survival in a post-industrial world that will be a good deal harsher than the robotic paradise of digitally “creative” economies that the credulous expect. This country has enough to do within its own boundaries to prepare for survival without making extra trouble for itself and other people around the world. As a practical matter, this means close as many overseas bases as possible, as soon as possible.
As we get back to business tomorrow, ask yourself where you stand in the blather-storm of false issues and foolish ideas, in contrast to the things that actually matter.
Read on ZH
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Escobar Exposes America’s Existential Battle To Stop Eurasian Integration 01/17/2020 11:07pm
Netflix earnings should show fallout from new streaming rivals, preparations for more 01/17/2020 11:07pm
Trump previously said Ken Starr, who will represent him in the impeachment trial, was a 'freak,' a 'lunatic,' and a 'disaster' who might have 'something in his closet'
Pentagon leaders didn't know US troops were injured in Iran's missile attack until a week later, DoD says
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Bristow Helicopters becomes member of Step Change in Safety
26 Mar, 13, Source: Step Change In Safety
It was announced today, Monday 25 March, that Bristow Helicopters has become a full member of Step Change In Safety.
The role of Step Change in Safety has become even more important in recent months with its Helicopter Safety Steering Group (HSSG) playing a vital role in keeping the industry informed following two related controlled water landings of EC225s in the North Sea which led to the grounding of the Eurocopter EC225 helicopter type.
The HSSG, of which Bristow’s Head of Flight Operations (Europe), Tim Glasspool, is co-chair, works to proactively to identify and address cross-industry issues around helicopter safety, related to helicopter operations in the UK oil and gas industry.
Speaking of their decision to become a member of Step Change in Safety, Glasspool commented: “At Bristow safety is and always has been our number one priority and we’ve built our Target Zero safety culture around this commitment.
“Bristow was the first civil helicopter transport company to work in the oil and gas industry and our excellent safety record has earned us respect amongst our clients and within the industry. Over the years we have developed a number of game-changing technologies to improve helicopter safety, which underpins the company’s commitment to safety for both its employees and clients. These technologies, which include the traffic collision avoidance system TCAS2, IHUMS, and Sky Connect, have been adopted by many leading aircraft manufacturers and competitors alike.
“We are passionate about driving up safety standards in the oil and gas industry and we hope that our membership to Step Change in Safety signals our level of commitment to do so.
“We also recognise the immense value that the HSSG holds in terms of keeping the workforce and Unions appraised of the progress and extent of the ongoing investigation surrounding the EC225 and we are keen to support this work moving forward.”
Bristow has been working with Step Change in Safety to reinvigorate its Helicopter Safety Awareness courses which provide a learning opportunity for offshore personnel, including safety representatives, who would like to find out more about offshore flight operations and safety.
The full day courses are run by pilots and technicians from each of the helicopter operators and cover flight operations, maintenance, a hangar visit and an open question session. There is also an opportunity to talk with the pilots and technicians to raise any questions or concerns they or their colleagues offshore may have. Bristow is hosting two of these sessions this year with the other operators each hosting one.
Les Linklater, Team Leader, Step Change in Safety said: “Bristow has been involved in the HSSG for a number of years now and this has really stepped up a gear since Tim Glasspool became co-chair of the HSSG in January last year.
“Having members such as Tim involved at such a senior level is a significant asset to the body. Their presence ensures that everything that can be done is being done to drive safety issues in the industry.
“The on-going safety of our helicopter operations is crucial if we are to meet the vision of being the safest place to work in the worldwide oil and gas industry.”
In addition to Bristow, HSSG consists of oil and gas operators and contractors, helicopter operators, workforce safety representatives, regulators and trade unions.
Tags: Bristow Helicopters, Civil, News, North Sea, Offshore, Safety, Step Change In Safety
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S.A.F.E. will present a Maintenance Safety session at Heli Expo 2020
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7 Things To Watch For At Trump’s First State Of The Union Address
The country is bracing itself for the president's address.
Against the backdrop of historically low approval ratings, a divided nation and looming midterm elections that could give control of Congress to Democrats, President Donald Trump was expected to stick to his typical script of tough talk on immigration, the economy and national security during his first official State of the Union address on Tuesday night.
But aside from regurgitating his usual “America first” rhetoric and touching on other policy issues, much of America – and the world — will also be listening for his signature racial dog whistling that has often fueled his speeches. While the content of his address is important, so are the people who will, and won’t be, in attendance, along with their reactions.
Here are some things to look for:
Who’s Boycotting
Much of the Congressional Black Caucus will be not attend because of Trump’s bigotry and policies that harm working-class families. The list includes Reps. Maxine Waters, John Lewis and Frederica Wilson.
Trump's "hateful" behavior leads a lawmaker to boycott his State of the Union https://t.co/yLuJzCkMGy
— Tracy Lee (@TracyLofgrenLee) January 29, 2018
Black lawmakers to wear red pins
Those Black lawmakers who do show up were expected to wear red pins to recognize the recent death of Recy Taylor, a Black woman who was raped in 1944 by six White men in Alabama. The gesture will come as the nation reckons with the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct and will shine a light on sexual violence during the dark days of the Jim Crow era.
We cannot forget the many marginalized women who have spoken up, spoken out and have long been ignored. In this effort, we must also acknowledge the inequities in acknowledging our suffering and the failure of judicial system in administering justice.
— Bonnie WatsonColeman (@RepBonnie) January 10, 2018
The Black Response
Waters, one of Trump’s most outspoken critics, announced she will respond to the speech on BET News Tuesday night, leading off a special program called Angela Rye’s State of the Union. Afterward, activists and other elected officials will analyze Trump’s first year in office and discuss “building Black politics and the value of engagement across today’s socio-political landscape.”
Maxine Waters and Angela Rye to Offer SOTU Rebuttals https://t.co/sEIWQXm8XS
— Majic 102.3/92.7 (@MajicDC) January 29, 2018
Immigration (DACA and the border wall)
The divisive topic that became the hallmark of Trump’s election will likely be front and center, as the president is now open to a pathway to citizenship for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients. However, in exchange for his concessions, Trump wants $25 billion to build a wall along the nation’s border with Mexico.
Trump is also asking Congress for a $25 billion trust fund to pay for a southern border wall and enhanced security at ports of entry https://t.co/LonwgT0PEQ pic.twitter.com/pK4ml1QYqu
— Bloomberg (@business) January 25, 2018
Female lawmakers to wear black
Inspired by celebrities who wore black to recent awards shows, some female lawmakers were expected to do the same Tuesday night to show solidarity with the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements to address sexual harassment allegations that swept through Hollywood and reached Capitol Hill.
Democratic women will wear black to Trump’s state of the union
19 women have accused @realDonaldTrump of sexual abuse https://t.co/f2BtUuR8c8 via @qz
— Eimear (@eimzkavanagh) January 28, 2018
Expect Trump to claim full and complete credit for the economy, including the lowest Black unemployment rate since the 1970s, even though economists have credited former President Obama’s policies and historically low interest rates.
POLL: 58% percent say the economy is in good or excellent shape, the most in 17 years. However, just 38% say the Trump administration deserves credit; 50% credit the Obama administration. https://t.co/FJAQj4yWD1 pic.twitter.com/7hG4vPWLpb
— ABC News (@ABC) January 23, 2018
Massachusetts Rep. Joe Kennedy was expected to deliver his party’s response in part by insisting that Trump has accomplished very little legislatively except for passing a tax bill that favors wealthy individuals and corporations.
From health care to economic justice to civil rights, the Democratic agenda stands in powerful contrast to President Trump’s broken promises to American families. Deeply honored to be chosen to deliver the response to the State of the Union next week. Stay tuned for updates!
— Rep. Joe Kennedy III (@RepJoeKennedy) January 26, 2018
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Jay-Z Scolds ‘Superbug’ Trump, Talks Black Love And Fighting For His Marriage On CNN Special
How To Live Your Best Life: According To Oprah’s Quotes (PHOTOS)
7 Things To Watch For At Trump’s First State Of The Union Address was originally published on newsone.com
Black lawmakers , CBC , donald trump , economy , Immigration , SOTU
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Influencers & Micro-Influencers
Search for Campaigns
Tomoson Support
Updated January 17, 2019 13:00
Starting in the "Campaigns" tab on the left side menu, you can search through Campaigns that are currently live on the site. The most basic way to sort through these Campaigns is through the tabs on the top of the page. These separate them into Freebies, Deals, and Paid Campaigns.
On each tile for a Campaign you can see the star rating for the business, and the requested social channels for the Campaign. It will also show how much it will cost if it is a Deal, or what the businesses budget is for Paid Campaigns.
All Campaigns may have a different Campaign type. When applying for these Campaigns you may choose to apply under a different type that you think would work better.
How do I view Campaign Details?
By selecting the name of the Campaign you can view more detailed information about the campaign. You can also see the product description.
How do I filter out Campaigns I do not Qualify For?
An Influencer may not qualify for a Campaign and may be instantly denied for a few reasons. Some Campaigns are only available in certain areas. Some Campaigns may require a certain size of total reach.
Whatever the reason, you can avoid having to sift through these Campaigns by selecting the "Only show campaigns I qualify for" checkbox.
How do I apply to a Campaign?
To apply for a campaign, simply select the "Apply" button in the middle of the Campaign tile. Or, you can choose the apply button when on the Campaign Details page.
How do I find a specific Campaign?
If you're searching for a certain Campaign for whatever reason, you may use the search bar with the ID number, the title, or keywords.
Applying to a Campaign
When to Create a Freebie, Deal, or Paid Campaign
Understanding The Different Campaign Types
Getting Started on Tomoson as an Influencer
Five Things That Will Get You Approved For Campaigns on Tomoson
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See the Difference / Stories / Karl Hinett
Karl Hinett
Help for Heroes opened a door for me by offering to help with my recovery and mental support.
Karl, from Dudley, was a 19 year-old soldier serving in Iraq with the Staffordshire Regiment when his life changed forever on September 19 2005. Supporting an operation to rescue two British soldiers in a Basra police station, s riot broke out and his Warrior tank’s viewing sights were shattered by insurgents throwing bricks. It forced the crew to open their hatches to see outside and one of the mob then threw a Molotov cocktail, drenching Karl in burning petrol.
Karl suffered burns to 37% of his body. He was flown to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, where he began his recovery that included 50 operations over five years.
Following another major operation in 2010, he began running marathons as part of his recovery. This soon became much more than a hobby when he decided to dedicate the next few years of his life to fundraising for fellow wounded Servicemen and Queen Elizabeth Hospital. He has since completed over 100 marathons and raised over £30,000.
“Help for Heroes then came into my life. They opened a door for me by offering to help with my recovery and mental support.” Karl went on to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for the Charity and also aims to complete 200 marathons before he turns 30.
As well as being a motivational speaker, Karl is a trained gym instructor and hopes to teach geography in the future: “I am so much more appreciative of my life. I take chances and want to experience more.
“I have truly found out the human body had almost no limits when being pushed. I hope that my challenge might just encourage others to take a step outside that comfort zone and see what they can achieve. Help for Heroes has helped me to establish new goals, pushing me mentally and physically. I would like to thank the generous public, who support H4H, for letting them continue to do the great work they do.”
Laura Dunning
Tracy Hills
Corie Mapp
Bob McNab
Davy Jay
Melvin White
David Denholm
Ken Nash
Simon Turpin
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Which apostles did Paul see while he was in Jerusalem after his conversion?
In Galatians 1:16b-19, 22 (ESV), Paul writes that after his conversion in Damascus,
...I did not immediately consult with anyone; nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother.... And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ.
However, the author of Acts describes the events of Paul's conversion in 9:1-19, and in describing the events which occurred immediately after (9:19b-20, 23-28, ESV), he writes concerning Paul:
For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God." ... When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him, but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket. And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.
According to the author of Acts, this is Paul's first trip to Jerusalem after his conversion in Damascus. The next trip Paul takes to Jerusalem according to his account in Galatians 2:1 (ESV) follows:
Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me.
The next mention of Paul's location in the book of Acts is in 11:25-26b, which records:
So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch.
This later trip to Jerusalem has already been dealt with in another question, I reference it only to make it clear that it is unlikely that there is another trip to Jerusalem that is being confused with this first post-conversion trip recorded in Galatians and Acts.
Obviously there are many differences in these accounts (did Paul go to Jerusalem to see Peter by his own choice or was he forced to flee there to escape persecution? Did he go to Arabia before Jerusalem or not? Did the other Christians take him away to Caesarea and then to Tarsus to protect him from the Hellenists, or did he return to the regions of Syria and Cilicia?). The primary difference I am interested in in this question is which apostles Paul saw in his first post-conversion trip to Jerusalem, but a good answer may need to address some or all of these other contradictory chronological statements in order to address this (if one makes the case that the chronology can be reconciled).
So in light of these texts and their presented chronology, which apostles did Paul visit in Jerusalem the first time he went there after his conversion? Was the author of Acts unaware of the letter to the Galatians? Did the author perhaps intentionally write a polemic to rebut/correct the Galatians account? How do esteemed Biblical scholars understand the differences between the accounts in these texts?
contradiction acts paul galatians
DanDan
Are you asking if Luke got a little creative with his hero worship of Paul? If so it is a brave question. – gideon marx Jan 15 '14 at 16:32
That is one possible approach, among others. – Dan Jan 15 '14 at 22:03
I'm not sure I understand the question - are you asking about the interpretation of a text, or about the historicity of the events being reported? – Niobius Jan 16 '14 at 15:25
@Niobius both in some ways. I'm looking for how scholars have understood these texts - both attempts at claiming I'm missing the picture and showing me how to reconcile the chronology and answers that explain why they differ/contradict and offering reasons why that may have happened. A good answer will probably end up presenting several interpretive options, but a strong case could also be made for a specific option in an answer as well. – Dan Jan 17 '14 at 1:05
@Niobius sort of like what I did with this question, where my answer surveys popular explanations and explains each, citing scholarly sources and showing its work (showing why the scholars thought as they did, not just what they have said). – Dan Jan 17 '14 at 1:07
Luke knew Galatians
Logically, the first question to deal with is whether 'Luke' knew Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, because this will inform the answers to the other questions posed. David Ravens (Luke and the Restoration of Israel, pages 174-5) speaks of the epistles generally when he says there are three possible answers: (1) that Luke did not know the letters and this could not use them; (2) he knew the letters but would not use them; and (3) that he knew the letters and made as selective use of them while keeping quiet about certain points.
Ravens proposes that the third option is the most probable. In support of this, he says examination of incidents common to both writers shows some verbal similarities which suggest Luke knew Paul's own account in some cases. He says that disagreements between two accounts of a common incident are not necessarily evidence of Luke's ignorance, because there is not a priori reason to think that Luke would have treated Paul's letters any less creatively than he treated his other sources. He goes on to propose (ibid, page 179) that Luke knew Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Philippians and Romans. Ravens says it is possible that Luke had other sources for his Pauline narrative, but agrees that it is only necessary to postulate a totally unknown tradition when the well known entities are insufficient.
Luke changed Paul's account for dramatic and theological reasons
Ravens believes that Luke felt free to make changes and additions to Paul's account, to suit his own dramatic and theological purposes. The question is whether these changes and additions represent a polemic and whether Luke intended to rebut/correct the Galatians account. Uta Ranke-Heinemann does not hold back, saying in Putting Away Childish Things, page 167, that the whole book of Acts is a work of propaganda. She cites Hans Joachim Schoeps (Das Judenchristentum, page 10), who says Acts follows a clear didactic line and for this reason energetically cultivates the creation of legends and reshapes persons and events according to its own standards. Raymond E. Brown* says in An Introduction to the New Testament*, page 316, while Luke used with reasonable fidelity written sources (Mark, Q) in his Gospel, some contend that the author was much more creative and therefore fictional in Acts. On these views, Luke is certainly changing the account put forward by Paul in his letter to the Galatians, but it can not be said that Luke was correcting Paul's account, simply because there is no evidence that he had a knowledge of any truth other than what he read in the epistle. In my view, Acts, in its entirety, was a subtle polemic that sought to portray Paul as a lesser apostle than Paul had portrayed himself in his epistles.
Paul saw Peter and James, but none other of the apostles
Acts differs from Galatians in ways that we can not reconcile without mental gymnastics. Instead of attempting to find a little bit of the truth from each version, we should either stick with Paul's first-hand account in Galatians or reject it as biased and base our assumptions on Acts alone. I propose that the appropriate course is to rely on Paul's account and therefore ignore Acts of the Apostles for this purpose. Paul very clearly says that immediately after his conversion he went to Arabia before going to Jerusalem, where he only saw Peter and James:
Galatians 1:18-19: Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother.
Dick HarfieldDick Harfield
This question is too good to have no answers, but I fear my answer will not do it justice. I hope others will take a shot at it as well - even if for no other reason than to prove me wrong.
1) Paul is converted on the way to Damascus (let's call this year 0)
Acts 9:8 Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.
Gal 1:15-16a But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles,
2) Paul arrives at Damascus (year 0) Acts 9:8b But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.
Acts 9:19 So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus.
Gal 1:17 indicates that he first went to Damascus, as it says he later "returned again to Damascus".
3) Paul goes to Arabia (year 0-3?)
Gal 1:16b-17a I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia
4) Paul returns to Damascus (year 0-3?)
Gal 17:b and returned again to Damascus
5) Paul goes to Jerusalem and sees Peter and James
Acts 9:26 And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple. [But Barnabbas introduced him to the apostles - yet he only spent significant time with Peter and James (cf Gal 1).]
Gal 1:18-19 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter,[a] and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. (Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.)
6) Paul is sent to Tarsus
Acts 9:30 When the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus.
7) Barnabas moves Paul to Antioch
Acts 11:25-26 Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
Gal 1:21-22 Afterward I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ.
8) Paul and Barnabas take relief to Jerusalem because of a prophecy (year 14)
Acts 11:27-30 And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. This they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.
Gal 2:1-2a: Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. And I went up by revelation
9) Paul sees James, Peter, and John (and probably also the rest) and returns to Antioch
Gal 2:9 and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.
Acts 12:25 And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem [to Antioch] when they had fulfilled their ministry, and they also took with them John whose surname was Mark.
10) Peter visits the church in Antioch (ca. year 15)
Gal 2:11 Now when Peter had come to Antioch
11) Paul's first missionary journey
Acts 13-14
12) Paul writes Galatians
Gal 1-6
Note: To restrict the length of this post, I haven't gone to great lengths of wordiness to prove my assertions. Most of them are self-evident from comparison between Acts and Galatians. If nothing else, let the reader know that a reconciliation of the two is possible.
For others trying to prove this text: remember that the author of Acts spent a good deal of his time with Paul (cf. the "we"-passages), and that Galatians was written well before Acts. Thus it is difficult to argue that these passages contradict each other, as a) Luke did his research (Lk 1:1-4), b) Paul would known full well that had he lied to the Galatians about his activities, they could easily find out, and they would have no reason to trust him anymore. Note also that the purposes of the two accounts are very different, and that it is therefore not surprising that they give different (but reconcilable) accounts.
NiobiusNiobius
Thanks for the response. +1. Do you have any scholarly support for this reconciliation (fwiw, I still see some gaping holes in the chronology, although this is a valiant attempt - and I appreciate the response). – Dan Jan 18 '14 at 16:47
@Niobius Thank you for your chronological report. – Nigel J Oct 23 '17 at 21:27
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged contradiction acts paul galatians or ask your own question.
Why is the genealogy in Luke attributed to Mary?
Is Paul's visit to Jerusalem detailed in Galatians 2 the Jerusalem Council?
Did Paul preach or never preach to the gentiles before Barnabas went to Tarsus to meet him?
Why did Barnabas bring Paul to Antioch?
Did Luke base the story of Paul's conversion on the ancient play, the Bacchae, by Euripides
Why are the three accounts of Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus different
Where is the 'Arabia' that Paul went to?
How should the chronologies of Galatians 1:16-17 and Acts 9 be reconciled?
When did Saul/Paul first go to Jerusalem
Can “many days” represent a period as long as three years in Acts 9:23?
What are the interpretive options for Acts 15 and Galatians 1-2?
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Partnerships help Cobb County fill needs of its workforce
January 30, 2019 by IgniteHQ Leave a Comment
Excerpt from the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Full story can be found here.
Cobb County has become a hot ticket for companies thinking about expanding or relocating. In January 2018, the county had 23 firms in its “active project pipeline.” Today it has 62.
One of the major reasons for this new-found interest is an organization known as the Cobb Workforce Partnership.
Spearheaded by the Cobb Chamber, the partnership was launched in 2015 and brings together school systems, universities, government agencies and the corporate sector. Among those involved are Kennesaw State University (KSU), Chattahoochee Technical College, Georgia Highlands College, Georgia Tech, Life University, Cobb WorkSource, Cobb County and Marietta City schools, and more than 30 Cobb businesses. All are dedicated to identifying and addressing workforce needs and establishing an efficient way to supply companies with job-ready talent, said Sharon Mason, president and CEO of the Cobb Chamber.
The county grew 27,000 jobs over the past five years, she said, and indications are the rate of growth will increase. Cobb’s workforce education initiative “has made a tremendous difference for the companies we are recruiting since our proactive approach brings together all the elements necessary to make sure businesses have the right kind of talent,” Mason added.
One of the key components of the initiative is IgniteHQ, an independent nonprofit started in 2016 through a partnership with KSU and in collaboration with the Cobb Chamber. The organization supports start-up companies and entrenpreneurs by connecting them to funding sources, mentorships and work space.
“Being an entrepreneur and running a business is different than having a job…because you have all the jobs,” said Mark Hubbard, CEO of IgniteHQ. That fact “requires some kind of support structure or connective tissue between the resources that exist in the larger ecosystem.”
In 2018, IgniteHQ launched two new innovation labs at its headquarters, one focused on social innovation and impact investing, and the other on blockchain and other cryptocurrencies.
Pamela Whitten, president of KSU, said the university’s students are major beneficiaries of IgniteHQ and use its services for networking, workshops and locating potential investors.
“Many are also working their way through school and have a work ethic, attitude and energy unique to a college population,” she said, adding that IgniteHQ’s partnership with the Cobb Chamber helps KSU students access local business support along with college.
Original post from Atlanta Business Chronicle. Read full story here.
Mentor Highlight: Roger Mahler
IgniteHQ mentor Roger Mahler is not only guiding members with strategy development, he is leading a pack of passionate comrades down the path to an interactive Marietta Square.
Mahler, a 25 year software veteran, enjoys discovering how to best utilize technology to grow business. As an IgniteHQ mentor, Mahler helps fresh entrepreneurs develop successful strategies incorporating technology. He’s translated his skills to many industries including medicine, banking, transportation and security.
In addition to mentoring, Mahler is utilizing his years of experience to manifest a vision of the ultimate smart city. Mahler is the founder of the “Smart Connected Communities Project,” a group of developers, stakeholders and believers uniting to build the optimal smart city starting with Marietta Square.
“Marietta Square is its own living, breathing ecosystem. There are places to walk, eat and connect with other like-minded entrepreneur and enthusiasts. It has its own unique look and persona,” explained Mahler.
The Smart Connected Communities Project boasts over 100 members and is housed at IgniteHQ. Mahler says he launched the group to enable people to build and realize their ideas. One day he hopes to create a Smart City Center of Excellence at IgniteHQ.
“Building a smart city is about solving problems that drive innovation,” explained Mahler. “We need to focus on integration, “Almost everything we need to create the Smart City of the future exists today”. We don’t know yet what a smart city looks like, but we know it’s going to be huge,” said Mahler.
A smart city is typically defined as a municipality that uses information and communication technologies to increase operational efficiency, share information with the public and improve both the quality of government services and citizen welfare. But this is only half the solution, a smart city is not truly smart until it does something personally for the individual and this will be driven by countless thousands of small developers solving community-based problems and knitting them together to create a compelling user experience.
At this time, according to Mahler, big corporations are securing all the government contracts and driving the development of smart cities, but small developers work on everyday issues affecting citizens.
“There’s a phenomenal opportunity here at IgniteHQ to build our Smart City Center of Excellence,” said Maher. “The city of Marietta, Cobb County and Kennesaw State University all support IgniteHQ and IgniteHQ is very open to the idea,” he added.
Click HERE For more information on the Smart Connected Communities Project.
Member Spotlight: Blue Skies Ministries
Some people may call Melinda Mayton a sharp entrepreneur. Industry professionals may say she is a problem solver. Her beneficiaries probably think she is simply an angel from heaven. We think Ms. Mayton is a combination of all of the above – a compassionate, intelligent and driven woman who brings emotional support and healing to families of sick children through her non-profit Blue Skies Ministries.
Mayton began her career as a nurse at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) caring for children with cancer. As a nurse she became intimately aware of the trials and turmoil experienced by families with sick children.
“Having a sick child is an emotional ordeal and traumatic for the entire family,” said Mayton. “Treatment can take years. By the end of treatment families are often a complete mess,” she added.
Observing her patients and their families had a profound impact on Mayton. She felt called to act, but didn’t know what to do. She says her faith led her to “dive in” and follow her vision.
In 2010, Mayton, along with a group of dedicated men and women, founded Blue Skies Ministries, a non-profit that offers weeklong beach retreats to “lift families above the clouds of childhood cancer.” Blue Sky Ministries’ mission is to bring the hope of Christ to families living through pediatric cancer.
The all expense paid retreats bring families close together in an environment where sick children can laugh and play, siblings can feel cherished and have uninterrupted quality family time and parents can heal and find support from others.
“Our retreats truly make a difference in the lives of our families,” said Mayton.
Blue Skies Ministries operates ten mission trips and hosts 120 families from all over the United States every year. The organization has six part time staff members and dozens of volunteers.
Mayton says she is excited to grow her organization at IgniteHQ.
“I’m looking forward to getting help from IgniteHQ’s mentors. The environment here is exactly what I was looking for,” said Mayton.
For more information on Blue Skies Ministries visit: https://www.blueskiesministries.org.
Blue Skies Ministries
Kick Start the New Year
The holidays are behind. The kids are in school. Vacation is OVER. Now that we’re all back at the office you might find yourself asking “what next?”
For entrepreneurs and business owners the beginning of a new year can be daunting. This is the time to reflect, reevaluate and revise. Will you grow your team? Will you obtain and retain more customers? How can you improve your digital footprint? How can you become better focused and more productive?
These questions and more ought to be swirling around your head, but don’t get overwhelmed! IgniteHQ’s medley of resources are available to help push, support and grow your business.
Goal Setting and Development
Our list of seasoned mentors are here to help you kickstart the new year with a bang. From financial planning to product development, IgniteHQ’s mentors bring years of experience to the table and thoughtfully guide you and your business into a successful direction.
Do you need more investment in order to grow? IgniteHQ offers capital through it’s funding initiative CurateForUs as well as other accelerator programs.
Innovate and Scale with like minded individuals
IgniteHQ’s innovation labs are a superb resource for entrepreneurs playing in a specific field. Find talent, improve ideas and get paired with enterprises willing to invest through these curated groups.
Finally, take advantage of IgniteHQ’s partnerships with the Cobb Chamber of Commerce and Kennesaw State University. Not sure how to partner? Any of our mentors or staff members can help advise and connect you.
At IgniteHQ we want nothing more than to see our members grow and thrive. Take advantage of these significant resources and hit the ground running!
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Artist as Researcher: Toward music as a philosophy
Becoming-life – on generative music and site-specific art
Interviews With Artists
Listening To The World In a Musical Way – a conversation with sound artist Emeka Ogboh
The Sound of James Webb – a conversation with the artist
Crossing borders through sound | In Conversation with Younes Baba-Ali
Tokyo Diary, Jan 2007 (an excerpt)
Another Green World, London 1/2
Drawn From Life, London 2/2
Future Forest Space: the philosophy of becoming in site-specific generative sound installation
Afrorithm
Benin Diary
Deep Freedom
Possible Cities: Lagos
July 17, 2019 October 18, 2019 Leave a comment afrorithmAihioarvo partContemporaryElectronicExperimentalFela KutiginetteHelsinki Philharmonic OrchestraIlpo JauhiainenInstrumentalJon HassellMinimalismMusicMusica novaOutlandspan sonicpetteri makiniemi
Aihio – Outlands
My collaborative album with musician, composer and instrument maker Petteri Mäkiniemi has been finally released.
The album is called ‘Outlands’ and it’s released under the name Aihio, our new musical duo. Aihio is a Finnish word meaning musical motif, sketch, a work in progress – or in my mind now “a space where new ideas can emerge and develop”.
The album consists of 11 instrumental pieces that weave elements and influences from minimalism, experimental electronic music and West African musical styles into an impressionistic and atmospheric sound of their own. The composers and artists whose work has inspired the music include Arvo Pärt, Cluster, Fela Kuti, Jon Hassell and Pan Sonic, to name a few.
The music features Petteri on Ginette (an electronic musical instrument designed and built by him and based on the French electronic instrument ondes Martenot, developed in 1928) and me on Afrorithmics (afrobeat + algorithmic composition). The pieces have been improvised and recorded live in the studio with no overdubs; they have emerged during two rehearsal sessions when we were developing material for the Musica nova 2019 festival’s Tribute to Pan Sonic concert, to which we were invited to present new work with musicians from the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra at the Helsinki Music Centre, February 2019.
I can only describe the album as a journey through varied terrains while immersed in the landscape, wondering the universe above; or orbiting the Earth and seeing the patterns of geologies and civilizations unfold without borders (no experience of that however); or travelling across galaxies and soaking up some stardust (some previous experience of that); or just watching a deer wander across a nocturnal meadow engulfed by mist and a golden midnight sun.
The French music blog The Black Box has been the first to note the release, calling the album “a musical curiosity”. The review is in French, but here’s the main segment translated by Google:
“A strange mechanical rhythm seems to support the album, like the hum of an engine, or the timing of a machine tool. Yet behind it is well long organic synth tracks that shape the rest of the pieces. This duality is present throughout the album almost, forcing the listener to take his trouble in patience, to listen carefully to the music to detect all that is hidden there, namely a universe. So simple album? Movie soundtrack? Video game? It’s a bit all at once, and more.”
I rather like that description “to listen carefully to the music to detect all that is hidden there, namely a universe”, because that’s what I felt when mixing the pieces in the studio: it felt often as if I was looking at this world from a higher orbit, or gazing up at the stars, or being immersed in rich and varied terrains, outlands. It’s quite rare to have this kind of impressions when working in a more technical and objective mode, but that’s what Petteri’s playing always did to me. It’s also a great compliment when you don’t know exactly how the music was made, what constitutes the elements, which instruments have been used. It takes the music slightly back to that condition of appearing “as strange and mysterious to you as the first music you ever heard” (from Brian Eno).
Peter van Cooten from Ambientblog reviews the album and writes:
“Outlands is a highly original album, in sound as well as in its background concept. Even in the ‘experimental’ electronic genre, many sounds and processes are alike. Aihio manages to step outside the box and create their own unique sound. Literally!”
He wonders about the inclusion of Fela Kuti in our list of inspirations though. It was actually Brian Eno who said that the closest form of popular musics to ambient and generative music was Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat: they all evolve from a loose set of rules and ingredients, proceed organically through the layers of interlocking rhythms and elements, balance discipline and freedom, and create immersive environments – music as places. Naturally we didn’t try to imitate Fela’s Afrobeat but to use some of the textures, sounds and aesthetics, and transform them into new kinds of rhythmic terrains and, well, outlands.
The Bandcamp release includes higher quality audio and additional album artwork. The album will be available on Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal and all the other digital music platforms from Aug 2 onwards.
I hope you’ll enjoy this journey and landscape as much as Petteri and I have. It’s been an adventure.
April 25, 2019 Leave a comment afrorithmElectroginetteIlpoMusicPetteri Mäkiniemiworld
Spring Makes Noise
Spring makes noise – and certainly so in the studio! A short update on what’s kept me busy and inspired recently.
I’m currently working on three different albums which will be released this year. The process of finishing them is slower than usual since I’m also researching and writing my Master’s thesis at the same time: it’s a philosophical adventure about generative music, complexity and “new future environments” but let’s not go into that now…
The first, still untitled album is my collaboration with Petteri Mäkiniemi which will be out in June. It combines Petteri’s self-designed and -built instrument Ginette with my “afrorithmic” system, and the result is rather beautiful and human, new kind of electronic music, mostly thanks to Petteri’s playing and the sound of Ginette (I’m just trying to hide in the background as much as possible). Musically it’s inspired by artists like Arvo Pärt, Cluster, Fela Kuti and Pan Sonic, to name a few.
The second one is my follow-up to Flash of the Spirit (2018) which will be out in July. It builds on the discoveries I’d made on that album as well as on Shimmer & Bloom (2011) and Arrival City (2013). 10 melodic and rhythmic ‘electronic contemplations’ of (the complexity of) the world. Somewhere between Seun Kuti’s Afrobeat, Aphex Twin’s electro, Kraftwerk’s pop, Erik Satie’s piano compositions and Grace Jones’ funk…so hard to define. (it’s basically me failing to make pop music that sounds like ‘pop music’ and ending up somewhere different 😉)
The third one is my experimental “World” album, currently titled Earth Variations. It started originally as a more extensive sound art project about migration, conflicts and borders, but since I wasn’t able to secure funding for its realisation, the initial sketches gradually evolved into instrumental compositions of their own. It still carries those themes at its core but in more abstract forms. The music builds on the ideas touched on Pulses / Radiance (2017), and is inspired by Jon Hassell’s Fourth World, Ben Frost’s industrial music and Steve Reich’s ensemble pieces among others. It’ll be released in October.
January 24, 2019 January 24, 2019 Leave a comment afrorithmGenerative musicginetteHelsinkiIlpo Jauhiainenlive performanceMusic CentreMusica novapan sonicpetteri makiniemiphilharmonic orchestra
Ginette & Afrorithm – Musica nova 2019 Q&A
As Petteri Mäkiniemi and I are preparing to perform in the Pan Sonic Tribute concert at the Helsinki Music Centre next Friday 1.2, as part of the Musica nova 2019 festival, we did a brief interview for the festival about the upcoming performance. The original posts are in Finnish, recreated here in English. Topic: Petteri’s Ginette and my “afrorithmic” system.
In the Tribute to Pan Sonic concert the composer, music producer and sound artist Ilpo Jauhiainen and the musician, composer and instrument maker Petteri Mäkiniemi will present a partially improvised new work in which electroacoustic composition, minimalism and experimental electronic music meet West African musical influences, in a form inspired by Pan Sonic’s abstract, subdued and uncompromising aesthetic.
The concert will be realized together with musicians from the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra at the Helsinki Music Centre on Fri 1 February.
Petteri, what is Ginette?
Ginette is an electronic musical instrument designed and built by me, based on the French ondes Martenot electronic instrument developed in 1928. Ginette is played so that the right hand controls the pitch by moving a ring along a wire, while the left hand controls the loudness of the note with a stepless key. The design of the instrument enables expressive gestures such as vibrato, glissando and a wide dynamic range similar to bowed string instruments. All this happens through the fingertips of the player, not by turning knobs. In the musical performance I’m fascinated by the naked presence of human condition – how for example a gentle touch of the hand or an intimate blow from the mouth is audible in the characteristic sound of an instrument. This is also possible in electronic music. Currently I’m developing a new, more versatile version of Ginette.
Petteri Mäkiniemi (l) and Ilpo Jauhiainen (r). Photo: Heta Kaisto
Ilpo, in your performance you intend to use elements of field recordings made in West Africa that can be set to progress autonomously during the gig with the help of generative algorithms. What does this self-evolution of algorithms mean in terms of the live performance?
Generative i.e. self-evolving and -organizing elements bring a degree of surprise and added liveliness to the performance, both for the audience and performers alike. In this scenario, a computer sort of improvises how it transforms and reproduces the source material with the rules and processes that we’ve provided, and operates thus as one of the “human” performers. Algorithms can be designed to produce almost any kind of behaviour, but we’re fascinated mostly by certain consistency where the music evolves in a slightly random, probabilistic manner while retaining a recognizable character – like a river that flows. In our performance one of the field recordings progresses and changes quite freely on its own whereas with the others the program introduces tiny variations around the gestures made by the performer.
Recently we also had our first rehearsal with the full ensemble for the concert. The ensemble consists of Jaani Helander (cello), Heikki Nikula (bass clarinet), Petteri Mäkiniemi (Ginette) and me (“afrorithmic generator”).
From the clockwise: Jaani, Heikki, Ilpo, Petteri (taking the photo)
This was my first time of playing together with members of a philharmonic orchestra, and it felt and sounded exhilarating!
November 20, 2018 January 22, 2019 Leave a comment afrorithmarvo partcontemporary musicginetteHelsinkiIlpoMusica novaolivier messiaenpan sonicpetteri makiniemiphilharmonic orchestra
Serendipity, surrender and the return of Afrorithm
Afrorithm in the house. I’m currently preparing for this special concert with a good friend of mine (and very talented musician) Petteri Mäkiniemi, at the Helsinki Music Centre next February. The concert will be a tribute to the pioneering Finnish electronic music duo Pan Sonic, and it’ll form part of the Musica Nova Helsinki contemporary music festival 2019.
Our idea is to create a new kind of music in which the aesthetics of Arvo Pärt and Olivier Messiaen meet those of West African musics, through the minimalist and sometimes brutalist aesthetics of Pan Sonic (we are also inspired by Jon Hassell’s musical concept known as Fourth World). Petteri plays his self-built instrument Ginette, which is based on the ondes martenot (and which appears on my album Pulses / Radiance), while I play my generative system called Afrorithm (Afrobeat + algorithmic composition). We’ll be joined on stage by a cellist and a bass clarinettist from the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra.
So far we’ve had two rehearsals. While these began as innocent jam sessions for the concert only, we soon realized that we’d created an album’s worth of beautiful, new kind of music – less polished and produced, more spontaneous, candid and human; pastoral, orchestral, African and futuristic (the word ‘evergreen’ keeps also coming to mind). After six extensively crafted studio albums it feels invigorating to arrive somewhere fresh and fully formed so effortlessly, as if we had simply channelled this music onto the tape. Our plan now is to bring this serendipitous album out into the daylight early next year, possibly around the time of the concert…
The film composer Hans Zimmer said that music is at its best when it’s about people playing together in a room. I agree with him. As a music producer you mostly release your long crafted labours of love as digital downloads and streams only, and the work then drifts in isolation in an obscure world of internet clouds and distant servers. It’s all fine as a distribution model (barring the energy consumption of those servers) but you rarely get to hear and feel how the listeners react when they listen to your music; the function and purpose of your music, if any, remains mystery. But when it’s just even two people playing together in the same room, immersed in the moment and moved by each other’s sound and playing, you remember why you love music, and why it has become such an important tool for you to explore and understand this complex world pulsing with new possibilities.
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Pear Tree Walk is just off the B4084 Worcester Road, which leads to Pershore, less than 3 miles away and to Worcester just 7 miles. Regular buses run to both Pershore and Worcester. The B4084 is also your link to Junction 7of the M5, just a 4 mile drive. The A44 is about a mile from Drakes Broughton giving access to the north Cotswolds, while from Pershore Railway Station, less than 2miles away, trains run to Worcester, Oxford and London Paddington. In addition, Worcester Parkway is scheduled to open in 2019 with a quicker service to Birmingham and the south. For flights, Birmingham Airport is 40 miles away.
A trip to the shops
Drakes Broughton has a Spar shop and Post Office. Less than 3 miles away the bustling market town of Pershore is brimming with local independent shops, an Asda supermarket and a Tesco Express. It's only 7 miles to the historic city of Worcester with its mix of independent boutiques and popular High Street brands including House of Fraser, Debenhams and Boots. At the Crowngate Shopping you'll find more than 60 stores, with further choice at Reindeer Court and historic Cathedral Square. The city also hosts a variety of markets. For supermarket shopping there's a Waitrose, Tesco superstore, Lidl and Sainsbury's and the Elgar Retail Park has many retail giants.
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Relax with a drink or meal at The Old Oak or The Plough and Harrow pubs, both in the village, or try one of the clubs or classes at Drakes Broughton Village Hall. Stride out along one of the many local footpaths to nearby Dufty Coppice or Lodge Wood, or visit nearby Tiddesley Wood Nature Reserve at Besford Bridge. At Pershore Leisure Centre, there is a swimming pool, gym and a health suite and at the Number 8 Arts Centre you can watch films, live screenings and events. The Swan Theatre, and Odeon and Vue cinemas in Worcester provide further choice. Pershore has a thriving sports scene with clubs for football, bowling and cricket and even a dragon boat club based on the scenic River Avon.
St Barnabas Church of England First and Middle School caters for pupils up to the age of eleven. From Drakes Broughton children move onto Pershore High School, a mixed comprehensive with sixth form and Academy status that's just 2 miles away. Also just 2 miles away is the independent Bowbrook House School, catering for pupils aged up to 16. In Worcester, the King's School offers facilities for children aged from 2 up to seniors at 18, in three school communities. For further and higher education Pershore College is on the doorstep and the Heart of Worcestershire College and the University of Worcester, are less than 10 miles.
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ICE Agent Commits Suicide in NYC, Leaves Suicide Note Revealing Govt’s Plans To Disarm & Purge Americans
February 18, 2017 · by Dane Calloway · in Black Families, Hidden Secrets, Life, National News, Politics, Racism, Religion, Terrorism, Truth About Black People, Untold Truths, US News, World News. ·
According to multiple creditable sources listed below, Martial Law is rapidly transforming from a conspiracy theory, to our reality here in America as we speak.
Just a few months ago, reports indicate:
An ICE agent who committed suicide in New York City left behind a suicide note that revealed plans for the federal government to roundup and disarm American citizens amid economic collapse.
After writing a lengthy suicide note exposing terrifying plans the government has for American citizens, a US Customs Agent walked onto a pier in NYC and blew his brains out.
Sources inside the New York City Police Department have revealed to SuperStation95, the contents of a suicide note found on the body and they are utterly frightening.
The note, which says it was written over the course of a full week in advance, outlines why the officer chose to shoot himself:
“The America I grew up in, and cherished, has been murdered by its own federal government. Our Constitution has become meaningless and our laws politicized so badly, they are no longer enforced except for political purposes” the note said. “Our elected officials are, to a person, utterly corrupt and completely devoid of any love or respect for the country which pays them. To them, everything is about getting and keeping power, and making illicit money from backroom deals.”
The 42-year-old U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation officer shot himself with a 40 caliber service pistol inside Pier 40 in Hudson River Park at around 11 am. (1)
A source at the scene described how the officer calmly walked into the park, took out his pistol and shot himself in the head.
The 42-year-old worked as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation officer and his offices were nearby to the scene of the shooting.
He was rushed to Lenox Hill Hospital but doctors were unable to save him. (2)
ICE released a statement Friday afternoon: ‘Tragically, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation officer from the New York field office suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound and has passed away.’
It added: ‘The agency is not releasing further details pending notification of the officer’s next of kin.
According to the suicide note, the Officer said:
“I was hired to enforce the law; to capture and deport people who come to this country against our laws. But now, if I dare to do that, I face being suspended or fired because our President refuses to faithfully execute the duties of his office. Instead, I come to work each day, and collect a paycheck twice a month, for intentionally doing little to nothing. I cannot and will not be party to this fraud; to this usurpation of the law, or to the despicable politicians betraying our nation” the note continued.
ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility is reviewing the matter and coordinating with the New York Police Department on the investigation.
The agent worked at a field office in lower Manhattan, just blocks away from the scene of the shooting.
MENTIONS “FEMA CAMPS” FOR AMERICANS (3)
In the suicide note, the officer revealed what he claimed are terrifying plans the feds have been finalizing:
“If the American people knew what this government is planning, they would rise-up and overthrow it. If I or anyone else in the federal government revealed what is coming, we would be killed anyway, so now I will reveal what I know.
We in federal law enforcement have been drilling for several years to control riots and uprisings from a coming financial collapse and widespread bank failures. The drills involve life-sized images of American men, even women and children, whom we are told to shoot for “practice” and to “get used to it.”
We have been told that the economy is terminally ill and will fail in 2016. We are also told the banks are all insolvent and the FDIC doesn’t have nearly enough funds to bail out depositors. We are told these events are unavoidable and it is imperative that the government survive when people rise-up over this.
When the collapse takes place, detention camps created under the FEMA REX-84 program in the 1980’s to house illegal aliens whom we were going to deport, will instead be used to imprison American Citizens whom the government feels constitute a “threat.” American citizens will be rounded-up without warrants and imprisoned without trial for God knows how long.
These camps have been equipped to carry out Hitler-scale killings! An actual “purge” of Americans citizens by the very government which they, themselves, created and pay for! I cannot be party to this.”
The Note goes on to say talk about state-level national guard being disarmed by the feds (4) and over 1 Billion rounds of ammunition purchased by the feds (5) and the Military over-deployed and being shrunk(6) :
“The government knows the military will rise-up to stop this, so our military is being deployed overseas, intentionally involved in foreign fights, and deliberately shrunk in size so they cannot be here or help Americans! This is why certain ammunition and weaponry has been removed from state-level National Guard Armories and over a Billion rounds of hollow point ammunition has been bought by the federal government. The states themselves have been disarmed of military-grade firepower so they cannot defend themselves from the federal activities. This is also why local police departments have been militarized and provided with armored vehicles and weapons of war” the note says.
“When the inevitable collapse begins to take place, electric power to the entire country will be shut off, as will all forms of communication. All banks will be immediately closed; no one will be able to get any money because all ATM’s will be offline. Credit, Debit and EBT cards will not function. Anyone without cash will have no way to get any. The Emergency Alert System will be used to takeover all broadcast stations and tell the public this is a result of a cyber attack.
But while the American people patiently await things to get back to normal, the government will unleash round-ups of citizens they deem militants or dangerous. With all civilian communications out, and all TV and radio stations taken over by the Emergency Alert System, by the time word spreads of what is taking place, the government will already have the upper hand.
Federal Prisoners to be GASSED TO DEATH
The note goes into a wide array of very specific plans and does so in extremely specific detail about what the feds are allegedly planning. For instance, it talks about federal prisons:
“Every federal prison has been outfitted with lethal gas systems. When things go bad, all prisoners in all prisons will be placed in their cells on lock-down. Prison staff will depart the facility, and a certain designated person will trigger a lethal gas system. All federal prisoners, regardless of their crime or their sentence, will be gassed to death in their cells. Once the gas clears, the dead will be removed and the prisons will then be used to house citizens who fight against the federal onslaught.”
PRIESTS RECRUITED TO QUELL OPPOSITION (7)
The note makes mention about Priests, Rabbis and Clerics from various religious denominations having been recruited and trained to quell resistance:
“So intent is the government to succeed they have recruited priests, rabbis and clerics from various religions to quote appropriate Scriptures about “obeying government.” They are being trained to tell people not to fight back and that their best hope is to pray.”
EXECUTIVE ORDER 13603(8)
The suicide note goes to great lengths about Executive Order #13603 signed by President Obama on March 16, 2012. The note details:
Executive order 13603 about “National Defense Resources Preparedness.”
This 10-page document is a blueprint for a federal takeover of the economy. Specifically, Obama’s plan involves seizing control of:
* “All commodities and products that are capable of being ingested by either human beings or animals”
* “All forms of energy”
* “All forms of civil transportation”
* “All usable water from all sources”
* “Health resources – drugs, biological products, medical devices, materials, facilities, health supplies, services and equipment”
* Forced labor ( or “induction” as the executive order delicately refers to military conscription)
Moreover, federal officials would “issue regulations to prioritize and allocate resources.”
SuperStation95 took a look at this Executive Order from the Government Printing Office (GPO) web site and, sure enough, everything contained in the Officer’s suicide note about this Executive Order is true!
To be sure, much of this language has appeared in national security executive orders that previous presidents have issued periodically since the beginning of the Cold War.
But more than previous national security executive orders, Obama’s 13603 seems to describe a potentially totalitarian regime obsessed with control over everything. Obama’s executive order makes no effort to justify the destruction of liberty, no effort to explain how amassing totalitarian control would enable government to deal effectively with cyber sabotage, suicide bombings, chemical warfare, nuclear missiles or other possible threats.
There’s nothing in executive order 13603 about upholding the Constitution or protecting civil liberties.
In what circumstances, one might ask, would a president try to carry out this audacious plan?
Executive order 13603 says with ominous ambiguity: during “the full spectrum of emergencies.”
DATABASE OF PREPPERS
The suicide note touches on the subject of “Preppers:”
“We in federal law enforcement have also been told that the government has a full database of all so-called “Preppers.” Those people will be dealt with first — by armed federal agents coming to take their guns, then their food stocks, so food can be re-distributed as the government sees fit.”
If the dead Officer’s claims about an unavoidable economic and banking collapse are true, would it then follow that the Executive Order put in place by Obama, might be activated? Would all of us find ourselves in forced labor, while the government takes OUR food and re-distrubutes it under the Executive Order’s paragraph about “allocating resources?” This is terrifying stuff!
There is much more to the suicide note and SuperStation95 is considering how much more to publish. As such, this is a developing story and readers should check back for further updates.
THESE COULD SIMPLY BE INSANE RAMBLINGS
It is not our intent to cause panic or alarm and while we expect readers to be intelligent enough to discern this on their own, we feel compelled to point out that these could simply be paranoid ramblings of an insane person who killed himself.
On the other hand, these could also be revelations by a person who was so distraught over the ugly truth, that he killed himself. We at SuperStation95 just don’t know.
We urge everyone to stay calm, think rationally, and decide whether or not to take any action to prepare, in case this person’s suicide note is telling the truth.
SOURCING / CORROBORATION
(1) ICE Agent Suicide in NYC: NY Daily News
(2) Taken to Lenox Hill Hospital NY Post
(3) REX-84 FEMA CAMPS Wikipedia
(4) National Guard being stripped of Crew-Serviceable Weapons and communications gear – Republic Broadcasting, John Stadmiller
(5) Dept. of Homeland Security Orders 1.6 BILLION rounds of ammunition Forbes Magazine
(6) US Army over-deployed and intentionally shrunk ARMY TIMES
(7) Clergy Recruited by Gov’t to quell opposition KSLA-TV Channel 12
(8) Executive Order 13603 White House US Government Printing Office
UPDATE – MAY 10, 2016 10:00 PM EDT–
The web site SNOPES.com has issued a declaration that our story is some sort of hoax, that we are somehow NOT a radio station and attributed the story – and this web site – to a former FBI National Security Intelligence Asset named Hal Turner, whom she smears as a “White Supremacist.”
This is not the first time SNOPES.com has made accusations against us simply because we have been the exclusive source of politically-incorrect news. And while we stand-by our stories in every regard, this barrage of attacks by SNOPES.com is becoming libelous.
We address the SNOPES.com accusations one at a time:
1) No aspect of our story above is a hoax. What Snopes.com seems to take issue with is the existence and content of a suicide note which was revealed to us by the NYPD. The person from NYPD who gave us this information did so after trying to get two other New York Media outlets, (one TV, the other a newspaper) to publish the story and was rebuked within minutes by media contacts who said “we won’t touch this with a ten foot pole.” The fact that the NYPD now claims “no note was found” does not surprise us at all; NYPD has very close ties with the feds and the feds have an intense interest in concealing or discrediting the information it contained.
2) According to the FCC Licensing Bureau, 95.1 FM in New York City is the HD-4 frequency for WNSH 94.7 FM as licensed by the FCC as shown HERE
3) Our story was written by our News Room staff, not anyone named Hal Turner.
4) Mr. Turner was formerly a paying customer of this radio station from October 7, 2015 thru March 30, 2016. He bought air time from us to air his personal radio show “The Hal Turner Show.” Finances caused Mr. Turner to cancel his programming on our radio station and continue his show onWBCQ International Shortwave, where he is on the air live from 9-11 PM every Wednesday evening. Mr. Turner’s web site is:HalTurnerShow.com . He is welcome to return to our airwaves if his finances improve.
5) SNOPES.com claims Mr. Turner is a “white supremacist.” In reality Mr. Turner worked for the FBI from 1993 – 2008, with his TOD as the Joint Terrorism Task Force from 2003-2008. His job was to infiltrate white supremacist groups to thwart violent criminal acts by such persons. This information came out when the Obama Administration betrayed Mr. Turner in 2009 and arrested him for writing in 2009, what the government PAID HIM $3,000 TO SAY on DATELINE NBC and FOX NEWS CHANNEL just four years earlier in 2005! After three trials (two hung juries) Mr. Turner was Bankrupted by legal fees, was appointed a public defender, who threw the case, resulting in Mr. Turner’s conviction. For SNOPES.com to smear Mr. Turner as a “White Supremacist” when federal court records show the exact opposite, is a prime example of the utterly shoddy research and reporting provided by SNOPES.com
The criticism and SNOPES.com outright falsehoods about this story, and others, have been written mostly by:
Ms. Kim A Lacapria, Age 37 (born Mar 20, 1979)
39 Cockonoe AVE
Babylon, NY 11702-1901
Those of you who are offended by this type of journalistic misconduct, may wish to contact Ms. LaCapria in a peaceful, lawful, non-threatening and non-violent manner to complain about her shoddy journalism. PLEASE DO NOT HARASS THIS IGNORANT PERSON and PLEASE,PLEASE,PLEASE do not make any threats or commit any intimidation. None of us need that and it will only result in serious legal trouble.
Ms. La Capria can be reached at: Tel. (516) 422-7943
and/or (631) 691-3415
If you prefer e-mail, you may contact Ms. LaCapria at
anang209@aol.com or
kim@socialnewsdaily.com
You may be interested in knowing that at some point – and perhaps to this day — Ms. LaCapria was employed by FACEBOOK with a contact telephone number (in the past) of: (650) 308-7300
In closing, we at SuperStation95 work very hard to get real news that the public can make use of. We do not filter our news based upon political correctness. We stand-by this story and all the stories we write and hope that you, the reader, can hear the “ring of truth” in our reporting, as we continue to uncover exclusive information and report the facts. To that end, we have now “exposed” the journalistic writing of Ms. Kim LaCapria as “FALSE” and hope that Snopes enjoys a dose of its own medicine.
Ms. LaCapria and others at SNOPES, put themselves out in the public domain and hurl criticism and accusations at us and many other fine people. Since they put themselves out in the public domain, they are public figures who can be publicly criticized. Our goal with this update is to achieve that. Anyone else at SNOPES who performs similar acts against us can expect the same treatment.
UPDATE – MAY 12, 2016 1:16 AM EDT–
Despite our clear rebuttal above, yet another “Journalist” chose to attack us and this story, repeating the misstatements by Snopes.com and adding some new outright falsehoods of their own!
In a RAWSTORY.com article entitled “Right Wing Loon turns agents suicide into Conspiracy Hoax” writer Travis J. Gettys claims this story is a hoax that “essentially recycles last year’s “Jade Helm 15” conspiracy theory . . ” and goes on to claim that:
SuperStation95 “. . . is neither a radio station nor a news site, . . .”
[This] website [is]” linked to white supremacist — and former Fox News regular — Hal Turner”
“Superstation95 is linked to neo-Nazi Hal Turner, who frequently appeared on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program”
“begging Americans to “rise up” and overthrow the U.S. government before it’s too late.”
With regard to item #1 above, shown in our Rebuttal to the original Snopes.com hit-piece, the FCC Licensing Bureau shows the licensing of 95.1 FM and is linked above.
As to item #2, we made clear in our rebuttal to Snopes.com that Mr. Turner was merely a paying broadcaster who ended his 6 month relationship with SuperStation95 on March 31. He does not own, operate or contribute to the content of this web site. Moreover, RAWSTORY.com repeats the same false, misleading and defamatory claims that Turner was/is a “white supremacist” when in fact, as shown above, Turner was with the FBI from 1993 thru 2008 and in his final 5 years, was with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) to infiltrate white supremacist groups to thwart acts of violence! All this is proved by federal court records, yet Travis Gettys from Raw Story went ahead and ignored these facts nonetheless.
Speaking of court records, both Snopes.com and RAWSTORY.com mention that the contact attorney for this website “is the same as Turner’s criminal defense attorney.” We wonder if it ever occurred to Snopes.com or to RAWSTORY that, as a media outlet, SuperStation95 was mortified that Turner was arrested and imprisoned for an editorial and, when he was wrongly convicted, that it was us who suggested Turner seek out OUR law firm because we knew they would help?
SCHLAM, STONE & DOLAN is a very large law firm, with dozens of attorneys. The firm occupies three floors at 26 Broadway in New York City, the old “Standard Oil Building” in the heart of the financial district. They usually handle commercial litigation but took Turner’s case because it was a dire affront to the rule of law and a direct attack by government upon freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
Even worse, RAWSTORY’s writer, Travis Gettys went on to say, in item #3 above that Turner is a “neo-Nazi” then utterly fabricated a claim that Turner “frequently appeared on Sean Hannity’s Fox New program.” This proved to be a flat-out falsehood.
One of the Editors here at SuperStation95, Christian Rivera, telephoned Hal Turner to inform him of these two “articles” and ask for Turner’s response.
“Never once, in my entire life, did I ever appear on Sean Hannity’s Fox News Channel program” said Turner.
In fact, the only appearance Turner ever made on Fox News Channel was on the program “At Large with Geraldo Rivera” and when he appeared on that program, Turner did so with the direct approval of the FBI JTTF because it was part of an effort to uncover who murdered the family of federal Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow in Chicago, which had taken place just days before!
Video of Turner’s appearance on FOX NEWS CHANNEL is available on Youtube from various uploaders such as this one: https://youtu.be/Pkr-Mmm5v7w
“Folks who view the Youtube video need to understand that at the time, I was operating under deep cover for the national security of this country, in an active Murder investigation. What they are seeing is an intelligence operation by and for the FBI and the federal government” Turner said. “All of this came out in federal court in 2009 and 2010, where that video was actually played for one of the three juries! For RAWSTORY to use my work with the FBI against me, is disgraceful” he went on.
With respect to Item #4, wherein RAWSTORY writer Travis Gettys claimed our story suggested the dead Agent’s note was “. . .”begging Americans to “rise up” and overthrow the U.S. government before it’s too late.” you need only scroll up to see it said nothing of the sort! The third Block Quote from the Agent’s suicide note reports his note as saying “If the American people knew what this government is planning, they would rise-up and overthrow it.”
Nowhere did the Agent — or our story — “beg the American people to rise up and overthrow the government before it’s too late.” It simply isn’t there, and for Travis Gettys to assert otherwise shows he’s either lacking in reading comprehension, a retard, or a despicable twisted manipulator of the facts. This is the beyond shoddy journalism on the part of Travis Gettys, in our view it is outright journalistic fraud.
If this is the type of half-assed reporting that routinely appears in RAWSTORY.com articles, then they just shot their credibility straight to hell. Knowing what our article actually said, and comparing it to what RAWSTORY reported, how can any rational person believe anything RAWSTORY ever publishes? They appear to make things up as they go along.
The outright falsehoods about this story, appearing in RAWSTORY.com were written by:
Travis J Gettys Age 43 (born Feb 25, 1973)
Those of you who are offended by this type of journalistic misconduct, may wish to contact Mr. Gettys in a peaceful, lawful, non-threatening and non-violent manner to complain about his shoddy journalism.
Mr. Gettys can be reached at Phone Number (859) 581-6713
If you prefer, you may elect to write to Mr. Gettys at his home located just outside Cincinnati at:
Newport, KY 41071-2044
PLEASE DO NOT HARASS THIS IGNORANT PERSON and PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do not make any threats, commit any intimidation or break any law at all. None of us need that and it will only result in serious legal trouble.
You may be interested in knowing that at some point – and perhaps to this day — Mr. Gettys was employed by The Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper. If he is still employed there, we would urge the newspaper to make a very serious review of any news stories written by this person since his ability to check facts and accurately report do not seem to exist!
In closing, we at SuperStation95 work very hard to get real news that the public can make use of. We do not filter our news based upon political correctness. The fact that Snopes.com went to great lengths to attack us, and now a radical left-wing cesspool like RAWSTORY.com has chosen to do the same, calls to mind the saying “Thou doth protest too much.”
This seems like an awful lot of media exposure and effort to unleash if, as these outlets claim, our facts are wrong. Why such a strenuous response to something which is allegedly incorrect? Perhaps, as you may be starting to see, our story IS correct. The powers-that-be know it . . . and they’re now pulling out all the stops to cover it up.
Sorry folks, the cat’s out of the bag and nothing you folks in government – or your henchmen in the mass-media – can do, will cover this up.
We stand-by this story and all the stories we write and hope that you, the reader, can hear the “ring of truth” in our reporting, as we continue to uncover exclusive information and report the facts. To that end, we have now “exposed” the journalistic writing of Mr Travis J. Gettys as “FALSE” and hope that RAWSTORY enjoys a dose of its own medicine.
Mr. Gettys and others at RAWSTORY.com, put themselves out in the public domain and hurl criticism and accusations at us and many other fine people. Since they put themselves out in the public domain, they are public figures who can be publicly criticized. Our goal with this update is to achieve that. Anyone else at RAWSTORY who performs similar acts against us can expect the same treatment.
Since this story has become dated, we have decided to incorporate our SNOPES.com and RAWSTORY.com rebuttals seen above, into a new story for publication later today, May 12. The politically-correct left wing is clearly on the warpath that certain government plans seem to have been exposed. It thus seems best to bring this issue to the fore rather than let it go quietly into the night. The more they try to cover this up or discredit it, the more we will cover it.
Source : (SuperStation95) Written By : Newsroom
http://www.revolutions2040.com/ice-agent-commits-suicide-nyc-leaves-suicide-note-revealing-govts-plans-roundup-disarm-americans/
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Sen. James W. "Jim" DeMint (R.-S.C.)
Hornady Critical Defense: Quality self-defense ammo in niche calibers
The Critical Defense ammunition is manufactured for the most common self-defense pistol calibers, and even a few of those whose popularity is waning. But, if you are relying on something even less common, Hornady may still have you covered.
Richard L. Johnson
Niche calibers are popular with many people for a variety of reasons, but they often suffer from one common problem: a lack of modern self defense ammunition. Modern self defense ammo is largely being made for only the most common calibers: .380 ACP, .38 Special, 9mm, .40 S&W and .45 ACP.
Hornady Manufacturing, however, continues to support many of the less common calibers with continued production of classic designs and introductions of new, cutting edge loads. In the past two years, the company has expanded support of many niche calibers with the Critical Defense line.
The Critical Defense ammunition is manufactured for the most common self defense pistol calibers, and even a few of those who�??s popularity is waning. But, if you are relying on something even less common, Hornady may still have you covered.
Hornady was one of the first US companies to make ammunition in this caliber with a load in the Custom line. This cartridge uses a 95 grain XTP hollowpoint bullet and is rated at 1000 fps. That cartridge is still available, but Hornady is now offering a 9mm Mak cartridge in the Critical Defense line as well.
The new load uses a 95 grain FTX bullet rated at the same 1000 fps. Both loads generate 211 ft-lbs of energy. The difference is in the bullet construction. The XTP bullet looks like a conventional hollowpoint with an open tip and exposed core. The FTX, however, uses a polymer tip to fill an otherwise standard-looking hollowpoint bullet. The polymer tip is designed to enhance expansion by keeping material like wallboard and clothing from clogging the hollowpoint. Additionally, when hydraulic pressure is placed on the tip, it presses outward, helping the hollowpoint to expand.
Generally, I would expect the XTP bullet is better suited for deeper penetration, while the FTX is designed to enhance expansion and will likely have less penetration when compared to the XTP. I�??m not sure that any other company offers more than one hollowpoint load in this caliber, so kudos to Hornady for supporting this popular niche.
.32 H&R Magnum
The .32 H&R Magnum was introduced in the 1980�??s as an effort to increase the power of .32-caliber revolvers. Compared to the .32 S&W Long, it is definitely more powerful, but nowhere near the velocity and energy of the more recently introduced .327 Federal Magnum. Compared to the .327 Magnum, however, recoil is much lighter while still offering performance similar to the .38 Special.
Ammo for the .32 H&R Magnum is relatively uncommon, and self defense ammo using modern hollowpoints is virtually non-existent. Hornady changed that with the introduction of a Critical Defense version of this round.
The new Hornady round uses an 80 grain FTX bullet and rates the muzzle velocity at 1150 fps. That puts muzzle energy at 235 ft-lbs, which is only slightly less than the company�??s standard pressure .38 Special load (249 ft-lbs.) The .32 H&R can make up that slight difference in the fact that many small frame .32 H&R revolvers held six rounds, while many .38 Special revolvers of a similar size only hold five. I expect that in an armed confrontation, an extra round is more likely to make a difference than 14 ft-lbs of energy.
.32 NAA
The .32 NAA is a niche cartridge with ammunition that, until now, was only made by Corbon and Extreme Shock. Hornady is now making a Critical Defense round in this caliber.
The .32 NAA cartridge is essentially a .380 ACP case necked down to .312 caliber (.32 ACP.) The concept was to produce a .32 caliber cartridge that would provide more stopping power than existing .32 ACP loads, yet could be loaded in any .380 ACP handgun with only a barrel swap.
The Hornady load uses an 80 grain FTX bullet and is rated at 1000 fps. For a diminutive cartridge, it generates a respectable 178 ft-lbs of energy.
To my knowledge, only North American Arms has chambered a pistol in this caliber, with conversion barrels being available for the Diamondback DB380 and Makarov pistols. If anyone has additional information, please list it below in the comments.
Almost exclusively found in the M1 Carbine, the .30 Carbine is a cartridge developed during World War II for arming non-frontline troops with something more than a pistol, but less cumbersome than the M1 Garand rifle. As one might expect, it is less powerful than many rifle rounds, but more powerful than most pistols.
In the M1 Carbine, this round makes for a good personal protection option for the house. I�??ve known more than one person who keeps a M1 Carbine in the truck for unexpected social encounters when working on the farm or elsewhere.
In the eyes of many people, however, the .30 Carbine has lacked much of a choice when it comes to self defense ammunition. A few companies have made hollowpoint ammo for the caliber, but most loads are simple ball ammo.
For 2013, Hornady introduced a new .30 Carbine load in the Critical Defense line. This load uses a 110 grain FTX bullet that is rated at 2000 fps at the muzzle. This puts energy at nearly 1000 ft-lbs. Downrange performance remains good with velocity and energy at 1601 fps and 626 ft-lbs at 100 yards.
According to Hornady, the FTX hollowpoint round consistently penetrates 15�?� of ballistic gelatin. That puts the round�??s penetration in the ideal range as defined by FBI testing protocols.
Additional Loads
Hornady makes a number of other loads in the Critical Defense line that might be considered niche calibers. I hope that people take advantage of this, which would encourage the company to expand offerings into other surplus and niche rounds. I�??m sure a lot of people would like to see a load for the 7.62×25 Tokarev, for example.
The complete Critical Defense line:
9×18 Makarov
9mm Parabellum
.38 Special (multiple loads)
Eagle Eye Opener: Italy’s Election Has Implications for Euro; Lowe’s Tops Expectations; Yen Nears Three-Year Low
Medal of Honor Roll Call: Salvatore A. Giunta
Written By Richard L. Johnson
Richard L. Johnson is a veteran police officer and trainer who publishes BlueSheepdog.com, a police training community. Richard also publishes GunsHolstersAndGear.com, a firearms news and reviews site.
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Alchemical Gnosis in Babi-Baha'i Scripture.
Home › Alchemical Gnosis in Babi-Baha'i Scripture.
ALCHEMICAL GNOSIS IN BĀBĪ-BAHĀ'Ī SCRIPTURE:
SOME PRELIMINARY NOTES
Stephen N. Lambden, UCMerced,
This paper was first read at a post-graduate seminar in the Religioius Studies Dept. at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1984.
Being updated and corrected 2017. Last slightly corrected 27-04-2017
As a "science" or "art" which has been practiced and written about for more than two millennia by a plethora of individuals from the most varied religious, philosophical and other backgrounds with diverse aims, intentions and world views, it is hardly possible to define what is alchemy. Anyone who takes the trouble to read alchemical texts and treatises representative of Greco-Roman, Jewish, Christian, Islamic or other dimensions of alchemy will readily come to realize that alchemy has long been much more than a mere `prelude to chemistry' indulged in by credulous souls whose main aim was to get rich quick by the making of much gold.
In generalized and simplistic terms `exoteric alchemy' has to do with the attempt to prepare the `philosophers stone', the `elixir' or `tincture' which was (and is by some still is) believed to be endowed with the power to `perfect everything in its own nature'. It could, for example, transmute such "base" metals as lead, tin, copper, iron or mercury into precious silver or gold. Closely related historically to medicine and pharmacology the `exoteric' alchemical task could also be viewed as the attempt to restore or `perfect' human health and prolong life. `Esoteric alchemy', often thought to be part and parcel of `exoteric alchemy', may include the mystic experience and contemplation of alchemical processes and secrets in terms of the receipt of true gnosis and the attainment of inner realization, spiritual progress and eternal life. Though much of the natural philosophy presupposed in alchemical texts has been superseded by "modern science" there is a great deal that is of interest in alchemical texts to scholars working in such fields as the "history of ideas" (magical, philosophical, occult), the "history of philosophy" the "history of science" and the "history of religions".
Only a small proportion of the many thousands of alchemical works written during the last two millennia have been the object of scholarly analysis. Though practical and esoteric alchemy are by no means extinct in either the Muslim world or our modern western "secular" society, scholarly interest in this admittedly difficult area has been minimal to the degree that even the numerous extant Arabic alchemical writings of [Pseudo-] Zosimus of Panopolis (an important Alexandrian alchemist who lived around 300 CE) remain imperfectly edited and largely unstudied. So too the bulk of the several hundred alchemical and related writings attributed to Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (7th-8th cent CE? See App.1).
For academics interested in the scholarly study of alchemical texts from the history of religions perspective, it is small comfort indeed, if we are to believe the authors of the pre-glassnost Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain (1970), that a good many Soviet scientists attribute "a close connection between traditional alchemy and avant-garde science" and that in Prague, at least, such scientists are eagerly studying long forgotten tomes that have all but inclined them to a modern neo-hermeticism (1970:306f).
In his article al-kimīya ("the Islamic alchemical tradition"; EI²:110-115) Ullmann laments the fact that though "very many manuscripts are preserved" alchemical studies have been much neglected; adding that "a vast and fertile field lies here open to research". More recent writers, including Raphael Patai in his The Jewish Alchemists, A History and Source Book (Princeton Univ. Press, 1994) and Syed Nomanul Haq in his important contribution to alchemical scholarship and Jabirean studies, Names, Natures and Things : The Alchemist Jabir Ibn Hayyan and His Kitab Al-Ahjar. 1994 (Dordrecht: Kulwer Academic Publishers, ISBN 0792325877) have made similar remarks.
In this paper I shall be drawing attention to another largely neglected and virgin field; namely, Shaykhī- Bābī and Bahā'ī alchemy and various Arabic and Persian writings considered sacred texts representative of its sometimes messianically charged alchemical gnosis. It will be evident that this constitutes an important neo-Shī`ī and messianic alchemical subfield, if one may so characterize this stream of religious thought. This to some degree post-Islamic alchemical tradition further enriches a neglected field of enquiry. Various previously unpublished and largely unstudied texts will be mentioned below and the need for further detailed research highlighted. In this paper, in other words, I shall attempt no more than to outline in the most cursory manner, something of the history of Greco-Islamic alchemy and then turn to a consideration of its place and significance within the history of the still evolving Bābī-Bahā'ī religious tradition.
From Hellenistic to Islamic Alchemy.
Western alchemy came into being in Hellenistic Egypt during the first few centuries BCE. Bolos of Mende (fl. 200 BC?), perhaps the `[Pseudo-] Democritus' whose Physica et Metaphysica came to be viewed as the cornerstone of Greek alchemy, and Maria the Jewess (fl.1st-3rd cent. CE?), a reputed student of the Persian Ostanes (an associate of a possibly mythical Agathodaimon?) are traditionally and by some modern scholars believed to be historical figures and to be ranked among key alchemical initiates of antiquity. From the historical point of view they may be viewed as the "father" and "founding mother" of the western alchemical tradition.
Between the time of Maria the Jewess and the rise of Islam many other philosophers, sages and mystics wrote upon or were believed by later generations of Muslim thinkers, to have been alchemists. Apollonius of Tyana (lst cent. CE), the Cappadocian, Neopythagorean sage and alleged wonder-worker, became a frequently quoted alchemical adept for many generations of Muslim alchemists. The undoubted alchemist Zosimos of Panopolis (fl. 300 CE ?) was the author of an alchemical encyclopedia and one to whom a score or more Arabic treatises are attributed. (1) Complete treatises extant in Greek mss were written by the alchemists Synesius (fl.c.350 CE) and Olympiodorus (5th cent. CE) as are writings attributed to a plethora of other pre-Islamic historical or allegedly mythical alchemists including the prophet Moses, Comarius (lst cent. CE?), Cleopatra, Hermes, Pammenes [Phimenas of Sais], Chymes (an ancient authority of Zosimus), Pibechios (= Apollo Biches mentioned by Zosimus), Ptesis (Petasius; allegedly a contemporary of Hermes again mentioned by Zosimus), Julius Sextus Africanus (d. 232 C.E.), Heliodorus (4th cent. CE) and the British monk Pelagius (d.c. 410 C.E.). Certain of these figures along with many others are quoted or referred to in the writings of medieval Muslim alchemists.
Alchemical expertise was attributed to a multitude of Jewish, Christian, Islamic and other figures going back thousands of years; including, for example, a number of key biblical figures such as Moses and Solomon, various Persian heroes, Greek gods, sages and philosophers. The concrete historicity of a good many of these figures as alchemists and the authenticity of many alchemical writings attributed to them is often either without foundation or something very doubtful. Many alleged ancient alchemists are mythical figures on whom alchemical gnosis and writing were later associated. Many alchemical writings are obviously pseudepigraphical. Worth noting, however, at this point is the fact that Islamic alchemical literatures preserve a fair amount of important and sometimes otherwise lost aspects of the literary heritage of antiquity. These alchemical writings are often informed by Platonic, Aristotelian, Stoic, Gnostic, Hermetic, Neo-Pythagorean, Neo-Platonic and other streams of ancient thought worthy of serious attention and analysis.
Within a century of the death of the Prophet Muhammad (570- 632), his followers and heirs had established a vast empire stretching from the Pyrenees to the Indus. By the early 9th century enlightened Muslims manifested a great thirst for learning. They were in control of such major centres of learning as Alexandria and Harran and came to absorb and develop much of the learning of antiquity including, Greek philosophy, astronomy, medicine and, of course, alchemy. According to the Shī`ī book dealer Abu 'l-Faradh Muhammad b. Abi Ya'qub Ishāq al-Warrāq al-Baghdadi, best known as Ibn al-Nadim (d. c. 385/995 or 388/998?), Khalid ibn Yazid (ibn Mu`āwiya c. 668- c.704 CE) was "the first person for whom books on medicine and the stars and also books on alchemy were translated" (II:851). Later legend has it Khalid ibn Yazid studied alchemy with a Byzantine monk named Maryanos (Morienus), a disciple of Stephen of Alexandria (fl. 1st half of the 7th cent. CE) who was a public lecturer at the court of Heraclius (610-641 CE) and the author of De Chrysopoeia, a lengthy Greek treatise on alchemy. Most modern scholars doubt these assertions and regard the "Book of the Paradise of Wisdom" (a large diwān of alchemical poems) and other works attributed to Khalid, as later forgeries. It was yet the case, however, that the Paradise of Wisdom was an important and influential pseudepigraphon. It contains the names of more than 70 (mostly Greek) individuals who were deemed alchemists.
It was most probably during the late 8th and 9th centuries CE., that alchemy took root and was practised in the Muslim world. This in large measure due to the transmission of learning from such centers as Harran, Nisibin and Edessa in western Mesopotamia as well as from Alexandria and various Egyptian cities where alchemical learning and experimentation had flourished. There were also the possibly early influences of the Indian (Hindu) and Chinese (Taoist) alchemy upon its nascent Muslim practise.
Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (fl. mid. 8th cent. CE?)
Modern academic scholars of alchemy have differed over the historicity of Jābir ibn Ḥayyān. For some he was a historical disciple of the 6th Shī`ī Imam, Ja`far al-Ṣādiq (fl. mid 8th cent. CE) though others dispute this. He is the reputed author of scores of alchemical treatises and related subjects as well as a master of various occult and more traditional Graeco-Islamic sciences. For centuries Jabir has also been considered identical with the Latin Gerber (see Holmyard, bib.) though this too is disputed. Jābir ibn Ḥayyān has been the focus of much scholarly debate during the last 100 years, the details of which cannot be gone into here. It much suffice to note that much of the massive and highly-influential Jabirian corpus, may well be pseudepigraphical, having originated in "extremist" Shī`ī circles during the late-9th and 10th centuries CE (Holmyard, 1922/ 6/8/57; Nomanul Haq, 1994/6).
The Jabirean corpus of writings have much in common with the Isma`īlī inspired Rasā'il Ikhwān al-Safa' (Epistles of the Brethren of Purity), reflect Aristotelian physics, the Sabian scholarship of Harran, Neo-Pythagorean mysticism, Shī`ī gnosis and to quote Kraus [Plessner], "all the sciences of the ancients which passed to Islam" (EI² 1:358).
The Jābirian corpus is made up of individual books and groups of books. In the latter category are
[l] The Seventy Books,
[2] The One Hundred and Twelve Books,
[3] The Five Hundred Books,
[4] The Ten Books of Rectifications,
[5] The Seventeen Books and
[6] The (144) Books of the Balances.
Only a few of these and other Jābirian writings have been translated into European languages (Appendix 1). The Latin alchemical writings of the 13th-14th centuries CE, that exist under the name of Gerber are not translations from Arabic originals though the Liber de Septuaginta is a translation of [Pseudo] Jabir's The Seventy Books (by Gerhard of Cremona?).
In the Arabic Jābirian writings the Aristotelian notion of the four elements (Fire, Air, Earth & Water) is accepted but related to a theory linking the four "natures" (hotness, dryness, coldness, moistness) with substance. This gave rise to compounds of the first degree = Hot, Cold, Moist & Dry. Thus, it is reckoned that :
In this light "metals" have two "external" and two "internal" natures. e.g.
Lead = Cold + Dry externally -- Hot and Moist internally.
Gold = Hot and Moist externally-- Cold+ Dry internally.
The 7 metals recognized by (Pseudo-) Jabir are (1) gold, (2) silver, (3) lead, (4) tin, (5) copper, (6) iron and (7) "Chinese iron". These "metals" were formed in the earth as a result of astral influence upon ("ideal") "Sulphur" (= fundamentally Hot + Dry) and "Mercury" (= fundamentally Cold + Moist ). Different metals are basically "sulphur" and "mercury" in various proportions and with differing levels of "purity". Gold is the perfect metal having a complete natural equilibrium. It is by treating such non-perfect metals as silver, lead, tin and iron with elixirs that they can be perfected in nature and equilibrium, can be transmuted into gold.
Jabirian elixirs are not exclusively mineral but may include substances belonging to the vegetable and animal kingdoms i.e. the marrow, blood, hair, bones and urine of foxes, oxen, gazelles and donkeys (Holmyard, Alchemy, 77). This was apparently a departure from the alchemical operations of Alexandrian and Harranian alchemists. The complexities of the Jabirian theory of the mīzān al-ḥurūf (the "balance of the letters") cannot be gone into here. It was essentially a mathematical and cabbalistic attempt to calculate the equilibrium figures for gold and other metals and substances based on the number series 1:3:5:8 (= 17) and 1:3:6:10:15:21:28. Twenty-eight 28 is also the number of letters in the Arabic alphabet. The transmutation of metals involved the adjustment through elixirs of the ratio of their latent and manifest constitutions. Elixirs are numerous but the `Great Elixir' was thought to be capable of effecting all manner of transmutations. As will be noted, in certain scriptural Tablets Baha'-Allah sums up Jabirean alchemy and refers to the complexities of the science of the balances. His spiritual transmutative power is occasionally referred to by himself as a potent Elixir deriving from the Holy Spirit (al-ruh al-qusa) or 'Most Great Spirit' (al-ruh al-a`zam).
Though the Ikhwan al-Safā' ("Brethren of Purity") did not have much to say about alchemy, the sulphur-mercury theory expressed in the Jabirian corpus is accepted in these treatises as is the possibility of the transmutation of metals (Nasr ICD:89f). In this respect "sulphur" is the active and masculine principle while "mercury" is the passive and feminine principle. A knowledge of Jabirian alchemy and gnosis, along with aspects of the teachings expounded in the Rasa'il of the "Brethren of Purity", throws great light on certain of the more arcane aspects of the Bābī-Bahā'ī alchemical texts and symbolism.
The Alchemical الإكسير al-iksīr ("Elixir").
A brief note about the term elixir might at this point be useful especially since both the Bāb and Bahā'-Allāh defined, commented upon and variously utilized this term. Historically and etymologically speaking this English word is a latinized form of the Arabic al-iksīr which is related to the Greek xerion (xeros ="dry" indicating a "drying-healing powder" or "metal") indicative of restorative or curative medicinal powders as well as that which effects alchemical transmutation[s]. The term elixir was first used by alchemists to describe the "substance" sometimes known as the "philosopher's stone" (Coudert, Enc. Rel. 5:96) which is also, as will be seen, the subject of comment in Islamic, Shaykhi and Bābī- Bahā'ī literatures.
The many dimensions of post-Jabirean Islamic alchemy cannot be entered into here. It must suffice to note that alchemy "occupied a considerable place in the attentions of the Muslim savants" (Lewis SSI:500), though a fair number of scientists and intellectuals including al-Masudi (Muruj VIII. 175-7 ) and [the mature?] Avicenna disputed or rejected the possibility of the transmutation of metals by alchemical treatment. There follows a brief suvey of the names and contributions of a few major Islamic alchemists who prepared the way for Bābī- Bahā'ī expressions of alchemical gnosis.
Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyya, al-Razī (d. 925 CE)
Abu Bakr al-Razī (d. 925 CE) was more interested in practical chemistry and medicine than in alchemy though he wrote some twenty books on the subject and defended alchemy against the attacks of such doubters as al-Kindī. He claimed to have prepared the "Philosophers Stone".
Muhammad ibn Umayl (d. 960)
Ibn Umayl was the author of complex allegorical and vastly erudite alchemical odes and treatises, including the Epistle of the Sun to the Crescent Moon [an ode ] and The Silvery Water and the Starry Earth [a commentary on the former work ]. Both these works were translated into Latin in the Middle Ages. Hermetic philosophy is important for him. His writings contain sayings of Hermes who was, for many Muslims, the first alchemist.
`Abu al-Qasim al-`Iraqī (13th cent. CE.)
al-`Iraqī wrote an important treatise entitled `Knowledge Acquired Concerning the Cultivation of Gold' which was translated by Holmyard in 1923. This work gives "a good picture of contemporary Islamic alchemical ideas" (Holmyard Alchemy:100). His Kitab al-aqalim al fā cIlm al-Mausum bi'l-Sanca ("Book of the seven Climes on the Science known as the Art [of Alchemy]') is a commentary "in the form of tales and parables struck out by informative pictures" on his earlier alchemical output. al-`Iraqi underlined the need to keep alchemical gnosis secret lest all become rich and the social order be disrupted. In his al-kanz al-afkhar (The Most Glorious Treasure) he sets forth an alchemical parable apparently modelled on sayings of Ibn al-`Arabī, (1165- 1240), Jābir ibn Hayyān, Plato and Dhu'l Nūn al-Misri.
`Izz al-Din Aydamir b. `Alī al Aydamir al-Jildaki (d. c. 1342 CE?)
al-Jildaki was an outstanding and widely traveled Egyptian alchemist. His works are very numerous, largely unstudied and the fruit of seventeen years journeying in search of alchemical mss. and adepts. In his The End of Search he quotes from no less than forty two works ascribed to Jabir as well as other writings of Ibn Umayl, Avicenna, [Ps-] al-Majriti, [Ps-] Khalid and al-Razi. His Book of the Proof contains a commentary on a Book of the Seven Idols ascribed to Apollonius of Tyana.
Such then, were a few leading Muslim alchemists. Bearing in mind that alchemy lived on after Jildaki and is still alive today in the Muslim world1 we may now turn to say something about the Shayki Bābā and Bahāā alchemical tradition.
Early Shaykhi Alchemy.
A masive amount of Arabic early Shaykhi writing exists about alchemy. Both Shaykh Aḥmad al-Ahsā'ī (1753-1826), and Sayyid Kāẓim Rashtī (d.1259/1843) wrtote a good deal in clarification of its exoteric and esoteric dimensions. The Bābī and Bahā'ī religions have their immediate and most central doctrinal roots in early al-Shaykhiyya ("Shaykhism"), a school of Imamocentric Shī ī philosophy and Islamic gnosis which derives from Shaykh Aḥmad al-Ahsā'ī (1753-1826), an extremely erudite and prolific writer who spent many years in Qajar Persia and claimed special direct inspiration from certain of the occulted (Twelver) Shī'ī Imams. He claimed comprehensive knowledge and achieved a remarkable synthesis Shī'ī traditional learning, philosophy and theology as well as all manner of `irfani, gnostic-esoteric sciences. He came to be considered one adept in many religious and occult sciences including those named after the five Arabic letters (= K+L+H+S+R) which derive from the acrostic of "It is all a mystery" (kullu-hu sirr) : كله سر
[1] Kimiya = Alchemy;
[2] Limiya = Talismanry or the composition of drugs;
[3] Himiya = The science of spells;
[4] Simiya = The science of "signs", possibly number-letter divination by gematria.
[5] Rimiya = The science of mind-altering displays = conjuring ?.
These five occult sciences are mentioned in the weighty Sharḥ al-ziyāra al-jami`a al-kabira (Commentary on the Comprehensive Visitation Supplication) of al-Ahsa'i. Therein alchemy is defined as the science of the cultivation and bringing to exalted perfection of gold, silver and such "vital essences" or "spirit laden gems" as the precious stones diamond, ruby, garnet, emerald, turquoise and pearl. Elsewhere Shaykh Aḥmad al-Ahsa'i sets forth very complex alchemical theories informed by and correlated with his notion of the existence of a hierarchy of gross to spiritual human bodies and spirits and related to his notion of the `alam al-mithal, an interworld of similitudes and the sphere of hurqalyā.
On Shaykhism, see further, this webite: Lambden, Hurqalya
In his Dalīl al-mutaḥayyirīn ("The Proof regarding Matters Perplexing") (1st ed. [Tabriz?], 1276/1859-60) his major disciple and successor Sayyid Kāẓim Rashti responds to issues surrounding the differences between the person and doctrinal positions of Shaykh Aḥmad al-Ahsā'ī and other Shī`ī Muslims. Completed near Kufa (Iraq) on the 11th Rabī al-Thānī [II] 1258/ May 22nd 1842 this work bears striking testimony to Shaykh Aḥmad's mastery of alchemical gnosis and related sciences:
"And regarding the knowledge of the elixir (al-iksir) and alchemy (al-kimiya') he [Shaykh Ahmad] made evident the bases of [this] knowledge, its various levels (marāṭib) and parts (arbā`a) as well as what is within every aspect (rub`) of the wonders of these [alchemical] sciences (fi kull rub` min `ajā'ib al-`ulūm)... He made mention of the inner dimension (bāṭin) of this [alchemical] science (`ilm), its mysteries (asrār) and its intricacies. This despite the fact that possessors of intellects and understanding were confounded over the comprehension of that eminent one (jināb) [Shaykh Ahmad]! for he did indeed divulge these things being taught by the Commander of the Faithful (amīr al-muminīn) [= Imam `Alī d. 40/661, an alchemical initiate) those deep inner things (bāṭin) through the melody of that orator (bi-laḥn al-khiṭāb) [= `Ali] as accords with his [Imam `Ali's] saying-- upon him be peace -- "We are the `ulamā' (learned) and our [Shi`i] party are the supremely learned (muta`allimūn)" as well as his saying, "ADD HERE ..." (trans. from the 2nd (Arabic) ed. Kirmān: Maṭba`at al-Sa`adat, n. d. [197?], p. 26).
Aside from alchemical speculations contained in various of his major and minor works al-Ahsa'i wrote a treatise in explanation of such alchemical operations as the `differentiation of matter', the alchemical "marrying", the `differentiation of elements (arkan) and natures' and the final alchemical act of fusion or coagulation (Ibrahami, Fihrist No 93 p.352). His Risāla yi Rashtiyya was written in reply to 33 questions posed by Mulla `Alī ibn Mirza Jan Rashti (written 1226/ 18XX) and largely deals with Sufi and gnostic matters arising out of the esoteric writings of al-Buni. Included in this work are expositions of such alchemical operations as,
Q.20 = "The manner of the alchemical whitening of the mawlud- i falsafi ("philosophical Birth")..
Q.21-27= On diverse alchemical matters;
Q.31 = On an alchemical allusion of Muhammad Qamari [?].
The gnostic dimension of Shaykh Aḥmad's alchemical thought is indicated in the following extract from his Hikma al-`arshiyya (The Wisdom of the Throne) a critical commentary on Mulla Sadra's magnum opus :
"Of the operation of the Elixir (`amal al-iksīr) the wise have made a mirror in which they contemplate all the things of this world, whether it be a concrete reality (`ayn) or a mental reality (ma`na). In this mirror the resurrection of bodies is seen to be homologous with the resurrection of spirits." (II.11.14 trans Corbin, SBCE:99).
The alchemical uniting of contrarieties illustrates the unitative nature of the material and spiritual poles of being. Through alchemical meditation, meditation operating alchemically, things gross become subtle and things subtle gross within the reality of the gnostic contemplator. Alchemical operations may be carried out by the true gnostic in the interworld. This is not to say though, that Shaykh Aḥmad outruled the possibility of concrete alchemy. For he also taught that the knowledgeable Sages dissolve and coagulate the "Stone" with a part of its "spirit" and repeat the process several times. The "Stone" becomes a living metal-mineral after being treated three times with the "White Elixir" and nine times with the "Red Elixir". It is then a living body which gives life to metals or transmutes them; it "resurrects" metals from the "dead" (Ibid). The subtle senses given by Shaykh Aḥmad to the qur'anic doctrine of bodily resurrection are informed and illustrated by means of alchemical wisdom and processes.
Siyyid Kāẓm Rashtī (d. 1260/1844)
Shaykh Aḥmad's successor Siyyid Kāzim Rashtī (d. 1259/1843) was also a prolific writer and one especially learned in the traditional as well as the more arcane aspects of Shi'ism. His unpublished works include a commentary on a Qaṣīda (Ode) rhyming in "B" (al-bā') on the Particles of Gold" and on an alchemical poem by a certain `Alī Mūsā Andalusī which begins:
"Take the Reddish Egg and remove its shell; for beneath the shell there is for this a core".
This work was written in 1239/ 1823-4 in a village near Hamadan (Iran). Also unpublished are two Treatises of Sayyid Kāẓim al-Rashti which contains replies to alchemical questions:
(1) a Risāla written for Mullā Kāzim Māzandarānī which includes an explanation of Shaykh Aḥmad's alchemical teachings and
(2) a Risāla for Mullā Mihdi Rashtī in which comment is made on aspects of the alchemical "whitening" or purification process.
Hajjī Mīrzā Muhammad Karīm Khān Kirmānī (1810-1871).
"Among the sciences which this pretender [Karīm Khān Kirmānī] hath professed is that of alchemy. We cherish the hope that either a king or a man of preeminent power may call upon him to translate this science from the realm of fancy to the domain of fact and from the plane of mere pretension to that of actual achievement. Would that this unlearned and humble Servant, who never laid any pretension to such things, nor even regarded them as the criterion of true knowledge, might undertake the same [p.190] task, that thereby the truth might be known and distinguished from falsehood. But of what avail! All this generation could offer Us were wounds from its darts, and the only cup it proffered to Our lips was the cup of its venom. On our neck We still bear the scar of chains, and upon Our body are imprinted the evidences of an unyielding cruelty" (Baha'-Allah, Kitab-i iqan: 189-190).
The `third Shaykh' of the Kirmānī Shaykhis, Karīm Khān Kirmānī (1810-1871) was a major and lifelong opponent and rival of the Bāb and Bahā-Allāh. Disdainful of the claim to waḥy (divine inspiration) of the foregoing founders of the Bābī-Bahā'ī religions, he was an extraordinarily knowledgeable and prolific polymath. Karim Khan wrote at least 270 Arabic and Persian books and epistles covering the whole range of Shī'ī learning, not neglecting to set forth his views on, for example, medicine, optics, theories of light, colour and music. He had a special interest in exoteric and esoteric alchemy and wrote in excess of 450 pages in this area. His alchemical works include:
According to the Bahā'ī writer Hajji Mirza Haydar `Alī Isfahani (d. Haifa 1921) Karim Khan claimed to possess the true knowledge of the alchemical elixir (QI. III:1324 citing Bihjat al-sudur). An examination of his alchemical writings shows that he was very well read in Islamic alchemical literature referring to a large number of the writings of Jabir ibn Hayyan and also , for example, to the works of Aiydamir al-Jildaki. Details cannot be gone into here.
Alchemical Writings of the Bab.
Siyyid Ali Muhammad Shirazi, entitled the Bāb (lit. "Gate"), was born in 1819 in Shiraz (Iran), towards the beginning of the 19th century. On May 22nd 1844/1260 he claimed to be the successor to Siyyid Kāzim Rashti and one in communication with the occulted twelfth Imam whom he sometimes referred to as al-Dhikr (Ar. "Remembrance") or al-Dhikr al-akbar / al-a`zam ("The Most Great Remembrance"). Influenced by Shaykhī teachings, though a remarkably creative and original thinker, the Bāb communicated hundreds of revelations during the course of the six years of his turbulent life as a messianic claimant (1819-1850). He was executed for heresy on July 9th 1850 in Tabriz (N. Iran) having claimed a few years earlier to be the expected Qā'im (= "Ariser") or Mahdī (Guided One), the Messiah figure expected by Muslims and ultimately a manifestation of Divinity (mazhar-i ilahi). His extant Arabic and Persian writings are numerous perhaps exceeding 500,000 verses. They largely remain unpublished and unstudied and are again sometimes ungrammatical and abstruse.
Alchemical terminology crops up in many of the Bāb's writings including his early Qayyūm al-asmā' (loosely "Subsistence of the Divine Names", mid. 1844), Sahifa bayn al-ḥaramayn (Epistle between the Two Shrines, Dec. 1844) and other major and minor writings. In what appears to be an early "letter" on the "science of letters" and the alchemical elixir the Bab stated that all things created by God contain a "letter of the Elixir (ḥarf al-iksir). The celestial reality of the Elixir is, however, if I understand this difficult text correctly, available to one who mystically "ascends up about the Heavenly Throne... purifies his heart through the celestial Sinaitic fire and partakes of the "fruit" of the Sinaitic Tree by placing the "retort" on the edge of the albemic and allowing the "Greatest Crimson Oil" to pour out within his being".
The later epistles and books contain sometimes detailed alchemical materials. This is the case with a section of his lengthy (May-April 1850 ) Kitab-i panj sha'n (Book of the Five Grades). Certain of the precepts of the Persian and Arabic Bayāns (Expositions) having to do with precious stones, metals and other materials, are best understood in the light of alchemical theories of `perfected substances' relative to an ideal eschatological vision. The edifices of the Bābī world and the riches of its occupants are signs of the appearance of the "Most-Great Elixir" in the person of the Bāb or tokens of the transmuting power of the Bābī messiah (Ar.) man yuzhiru-hu Allāh) ("Him Whom God will make manifest"). Some very abstruse alchemical and talismanic ideas are contained in a late epistle of the Bāb which may have been addressed to his disciple Mirza Assad-Allah Khu`i entitled Dayyān ("The Judge").
Alchemical Writings and Epistles of Mirza Ḥusayn `Alī Nūrī, Bahā-Allāh ("The Splendour of God", 1817-1892).
It was in the late 1960's that I first became aware of the existence of Bābī-Bahā'ī alchemical texts. In 1971, a family of American Bahā'īs whom I visited in Blantyre (Malawi) informed me that they knew of a learned and elderly Iranian Bahā'ī resident in New York who had the reputation of having discovered, on the basis of the study of certain alchemical writings of Bahā'-Allāh, the secret of the philosophers stone. Since that time few Bahā'īs have brought up the subject of their alchemical heritage. Indeed, most western and for that matter oriental Bahā'īs remain uninformed of the existence of a considerable number of Bābī-Bahā'ī scriptural writings relating to alchemical practice and gnosis. This to some degree contrasts with the situation amongst literate modern Bahā'ī believers resident in the middle east from the 1840s to say, the 1940s.
In some respects it is not surprising that the vast majority of Bahā'īs are unaware of the alchemical dimension of their sacred writ. Alchemy is certainly not central to their modern concerns. The practice of exoteric alchemy came to be expressly forbidden by Bahā'-Allāh himself during the latter years of his ministry spent in Ottoman Palestine. Most Bābī and Bahā'ī alchemical texts are in a difficult Arabic and /or Persian, frequently syntactically complex, somewhat ungrammatical and informed by various abstruse speculations. They largely remain in mss. Without some knowledge of Jabirian and later alchemical theories and of Shaykhī and Bābī-Bahā'ī gnosis they are virtually incomprehensible. Indeed, what I am about to say about these texts will be grossly simplified and quite definitely provisional.
Mirza Husayn `Alī Bahā-Allāh was from 1844 the 1850s or early 1860s a leading Bābī who ultimately claimed to be the the Babi messiah figure man yuẓhiru-hu Allah ("Him Whom God will make manifest") and a Divine Theophany or Manifestation of Divinity. He was the author of perhaps 20,000 alwāh (scriptual Tablets) or Arabic and Persian sacred writings. His again, largely unstudied and unpublished waḥy texts (divine revelations) include a score or more works that are partly or wholly alchemical. This is not surprising in the light of the Bahā'ī Prophet's mystic leanings, and Shaykhi-Bābī `universe of discourse' and background.
Mirza `Abbas Nuri, known as Mirza Buzurg (d.1839), Bahā-Allāh's father and his younger brother Mirza Musa (d. ), were, according to Fāḍil-i Mazandarani, experienced alchemists (Asrar, art. iksir). The Nuri family were in possession of gold and silver alchemical tools and instruments which Bahā-Allāh in the early 1840s (?) had deposited in a certain locality in Tehran.
During the period 1852-1863 while Bahā-Allāh was resident in Ottoman Iraq, he was widely regarded as a Sufi master and alchemical initiate. Non-Bābīs visited him in the hope of learning alchemical secrets, among them, an associate of the mujtahid Shaykh `Abd al-Husayn Tehrani (d.1869). During the course of his two year withdrawal to Iraqi Kurdistan (1854-6) Bahā-Allāh, to quote Shoghi Effendi's God Passes By was not only revered by some as one of the "Men of the Unseen" (rijal al-ghayb) but "an adept in alchemy and the science of divination" (p. XX).
Like his half-brother Mirza Yahya Nuri, Subh-i Azal (1830-1914) Bahā-Allāh wrote about or responded to questions regarding alchemical subjects. These writings show him to have been well-informed about Islamic alchemical theory and practise. In his Kitab-i Iqan (Book of Certitude, 1862) he criticized Karim Khan Kirmānī (see above) for maintaining that alchemy and other obscurantist branches of learning were necessary for an understanding of the mi`rāj ("Night Ascent)" of the Prophet Muhammad. Bahā-Allāh preferred inspired, mystical avenues to knowledge as opposed to acquired erudition (see Quinn, 2002).
Alchemical Materials in the Tafsir ayat al-Nūr or Tafsīr al-ḥurūfāt al-muqaṭṭa`ah
The variously named Commentary on the Qur' anic Light Verse (Q. 24:35) or Commentary on the Isolated Letters of the Qur'an (A-L-M etc) dates to the *probably early) 1850s. In considering this important early scriptural writing, I have consulted various mss. along with the (only) printed text (it is riddled with errors) found in vol. 4 of `Abd al-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāvarī's compilation Mā'idih-yi āsmānī ( see vol. 4: 49-88). Well into the text of this writings Baha'-Allah addresses the malā' al-san`a or (loosely) `such as are occupied with the `alchemical work':
[LX] [1]
Then thou, O Assemblage occupied with Alchemical practise! (malā' al-san`a)
Seek ye fervently! but be thou conscious of the [dangers of the cosmic] Fire (al-nār) such that thou shalt not bring it to bear upon [the proto-"Gold"] to the extent which results in injury for this [ethereal] Fire (al-nār) doth both decompose (yufsid) and restore (yuslih) as thou wouldst know if thou wert befittingly aware. [2] Such is that which We mentioned about the Fire (al-nar), the Gold (al-dhahab), the Soul (al-nafs), the sulphurous Water (mā' al-kibrit), the Divine Water (mā' al-ilāhī) and the Airy Water (mā' al-hawā').[3] And there applieth unto this [Elixir] all the divine Names and Attributes (al-asmā' wa'l-ṣifāt) in its various inner grades and levels in the light of their appropriate correspondences as indicated by the manifestation of [miscellaneous] hues [colours] and modes of activity (al-alwān wa'l-af`al). [4] Wherefore do We instruct thee to the end that all may attain certitude through this unlettered Iraqi Youth [Bahā'-Allāh] (al-fata al-umm al-`iraq ) possessed of such sciences (li-`ulum) as surpass those of the ancients (al-awwalin) and have never been comprehended by those of this latter period (al-ākhirūn). [5] This perchance their souls might thereby inwardly comprehend and they desist from such idle speculationsas they indulge in this day."
After some further complex paragraphs, Baha'-Allah continues :
[LXV]
[1] And this snow-white Earth (al-arḍal-bayḍā') is assuredly a [philosopher's] Stone (li-hajar) from which gusheth forth streams (al-anhār) which are one in their species [gender, class] (hiya waḥdat fi jinsihā) and likewise one in their organized mode (tadbīriha waḥidat) if thou would multiply this oneness (wāḥid) thou wouldst witness four. [2] It's similitude (mithāl) is the [isolated letter] "A" (al-alif) the like of which We have already made mention for this [letter] "A" is one in its "Soul" (nafs). [3] It is not subject to enumeration though enumeration does result from it. [4] Multiplicity emergeth therefrom though thou do yet observe the multiplicity of the worlds of numbers (kathirāt `awālim al-a`dād) through the Countenance of the One (ṭal`at al-wāḥid). [5] This ["A"] is [indeed] the [Philosopher's] Stone (al-hajar) in which the three species (ajnās al-thalālitha) are combined as thou do assuredly testify with thine own eyes, if, that is, thou art experienced in the knowledge [science] of God (`ilm Allāh). [6] It [the "A" = Elixir= Stone =Spirit] is certainly evocative of the "Night of Destiny" (laylat al-qadr; Q. 97:1f) for thereon is a thing determined according to a hidden knowledge (`ilm maknūn). [7] God concealeth it from the inmost hearts of His servants just as the "Night of Destiny" (laylat al-qadr) is concealed from such as fail to gaze with the vision of God (bi-baṣar Allāh) into the realities of things (haqā'iq al-ashyā'). [8] And We compare it [the hidden decree?] to the "Night" (al-layla) because darkness and shadows (al-sawād wa'l-ẓalima) become manifest therein after the primordial structuring [regulation of fate?] (tadbīr al-awwāl). [9] This resulteth from the shadows (al-ẓalimat) within which was determined the Water of Life (mā' al-ḥayawān). [10] Such is of the Reality (al-ḥaqq) about which thou hast heard aforetime.
For details and full text and translation see this website at :
Ms. Texts. PDf. Mss. and printed editions of the original text. PDf. [1] T-Hurufat-INBMA36.pdf
Tafsir ayat al-Nūr or Tafsīr al-ḥurūfāt al-muqaṭṭa`ah. Lambden Translation.
At least two early and important alchemical epistles most likely dating from mid.-late Iraq (Baghdad) period (1852-1863) were written by Bahā-Allāh. They were (1) an epistle to a certain `Abbas and (2) a brief reply to a question about the nature of the "Philosophers' Stone". In these texts Bahā-Allāh evinces a very high regard for alchemy, claims to have special knowledge in this area, and describes the secrets of theoretical and practical alchemy. Alchemy need not be a barrier to the practice of Bābīsm though spiritual detachment is preferable to the striving for transient self-sufficiency. The person and quest for "Him Who God Will Make Manifest" is the ultimate and ideal Elixir. His messianic and divine presence should be sought and prepared for. There follows a synopsis of these two epistles:
(1) The Lawḥ-i Kimiyā (I) an alchemical Tablet addressed to a certain `Abbās (c. 1858-60?).
Arabic text in INBMC 36:277-80. cf. [incomplete text] Ma'ida 4:XX.
Lawḥ-i kīmīya (I): An Alchemical Tablet to `Abbās (c.1856-60?).
Addressed to a certain `Abbās in reply to questions about alchemical terminology and operations, this interesting epistle highlights Bahā-Allāh's early familiarity with Islamic alchemical texts and perhaps Shaykhī alchemical gnosis. 3 Whilst resident in Iraqi Kurdistan and Baghdad Bahā-Allāh gained the reputation of being one privy to the secret of the philosophers' stone or alchemical elixir. According to Fāḍil-i Mazandarani members of Bahā-Allāh's family, his father and brother Mirza Musa were experienced alchemists at one time possessed of gold and silver alchemical equipment. 4
Without going into details it should be noted that a plethora of Biblical figures (as well as Greek gods, philosophers and Persian sages, etc.,) were believed by Muslims to have been alchemical adepts. as also, for Shi`i Muslims, the Prophet Muhammad and the Imams 5 Certain alchemical texts which form part the (Arabic) Jabirian corpus (9th--l0th cent. CE or earlier?) contain quotations and/or paraphrases and interpretations of biblical texts and utterances ascribed to Hebrew prophets and other ancient worthies. This is also the case with Bahā-Allāh's Lawḥ-i Kimiyā [I] and certain other of his alchemical epistles. For some details see Patai, Biblical Figures as Alchemists (in HUCA. 195 229).
It is then, presupposed at various points in Bahā-Allāh's Lawḥ-i Kimiyā [I] that certain pre-Islamic Prophets (anbiya') and ancient sages (hukama') were privy to alchemical secrets. Though Bahā-Allāh discourses on the alchemical implications of the Jabirian `sulphur-mercury' theory (6) he at one point writes:
"Some among the prophets (anbiyā') had, from mercury (zaibaq) alone, completed the alchemical task" (L-Kimiya [1]: 357).
Though, in other words, metals are fundamentally made up of varying proportions of "sulphur" (basically the "Hot" and "Dry" aspect) and "mercury" (basically the "Cold" and "Moist" aspect) with differing degrees of "purity" great Prophets were able to produce the perfect metal, gold, from mercury alone. This alchemical secret, it is said, has always been kept secret, it being forbidden to divulge it.
Christian influence on Islamic alchemy is reflected in what Bahā-Allāh has to say about the "Divine Metal", presumably, gold:
As for the Divine Mine [metal] (ma`din-i ilahi) which is of "the Father" (āb = "sulphur" ?), "the Son" (ibn= "mercury") and the Holy Spirit (rūh al-quds = sal ammoniac ?) it has become known as it was by means of the enigmatic utterances and subtle expositions of past times... (7)
Having commented on a good many sometimes abstruse alchemical decknamen Bahā-Allāh points out that the Prophets (anbiya') and sages (ḥukamā') made mention of alchemical secrets by using enigmatic language. At the time of his delivering the khuṭbat al-bayān ("Sermon of the Exposition") Imam `Alī made some cryptic remarks about alchemy. Ancient philosophers (al-falāsifa al-qudamī') spoke in riddles lest their contemporaries treated the "art" in an immature manner. The following dialogue is registered by Bahā-Allāh as is alleged to have taken place between Abraham, "the Friend [of God]" (al-khaIīl) and his people:
... Abraham... said, `The [alchemical] knowledge (al-`ilm) is in the Egg (al-bayḍ), although it is not an Egg (bayḍa)'. And it was said to him, `What is the alchemical "work" (al-`amal)? And what is "the Egg" (al-bayḍa)? And what is "other than the Egg? And he [Abraham] said, `The Egg is the Cosmos (al-`ālam) and the four elements [or natures] in which is the knowledge of the "All" (`ilm al-kull). " (L-Kimiya [1]: 316-2)
Abraham allegedly spoke in riddles only going so far as to indicate that the alchemical "work" has to do with the fourfold nature of the cosmos and likening the philosophers' stone to an egg.
Not only Abraham but Jesus is also is represented as one who spoke cryptically about the alchemical mystery. In a rather obscure paragraph, probably inspired by an Islamic alchemical treatise Bahā'-Allāh writes;
And it is said that Jesus, the Spirit of God (rūḥ Allāh) and His Word (kalimat) said; `It [the mystery of the philosophers' stone ?], verily, is Existence (or: `Being'; kā'in). ' And it was said to him, `From what is it'? And he said, `The Speech of God' (kalam Allāh) (p. 362)
As a result of Jesus' words his listeners were divided. Some held fast to tradition or followed the law (al-shar`) while others were receptive to (philosophical alchemical [?]) "wisdom" (ḥikmat). As a result Jesus said: "He that hath no sword, let him buy a sword.." (p. 362).
These words are of course a slightly variant quotation of Luke 22: 36b and Bahā'-Allāh seems to imply that Jesus' identifying "Existence" with the "Speech of God" (= himself ?) led to serious dissension among his hearers such that he recommended that they arm themselves. Jesus had only begun to divulge cosmological and alchemical secrets (?) when he cut short his discourse and, in the light of the controversial nature of his words, uttered (part of) the saying contained in Luke 22:36. The sitz im leben given by Bahā'-Allāh (or his Islamic source ?) to these words seems a far cry from their setting and significance in Luke's Gospel (see Luke 22:35-8, and its wider context).
Of minor interest is the fact that Bahā'-Allāh after his reference to Jesus refers to Apollonius of Tyana (Balinas; fl. 1st cent. CE) an alchemical initiate in Islamic gnosis. He refers to the legend connecting him with the Tabula Smaragdina ("Emerald Table") associated with Hermes thrice-born (Trismegistos). In his Lawḥ-i kīmīyā Bahā'-Allāh quotes an Arabic version of several lines of this "Emerald Table".
Other writings of the Iraq-Baghdad Period,
See further on this website:
Tafsir ayat al-Nūr or Tafsīr al-ḥurūfāt al-muqaṭṭa`a A Commentary on the Isolated Letters".
Some further Writings of Baha'-Allah dating to the 1850s or early 1860s.
During the Istanbul-Edirne (Constantinople-Adrianople) period of his mission (1863-8) Bahā'-Allāh continued to respond to questions about alchemical matters. He wrote, for example, in about 1864-6 (?) a lengthy commentary upon lines of a discourse attributed to Maria the Jewess/Copt which opens with an explanation of the "white" and "red" "gum" and the significance of the words [Maria]:
"Take from the "branch" of the "Stone" and not from the "root" of the "Stone".
Lawḥ-i kīmīya (II) : An Alchemical Tablet expository of a Saying of Mary the Copt / Jewess.
The Kitab-i iqan (The Book of Certitude, c. 1861).
For instance, consider the substance of copper. Were it to be protected in its own mine from becoming solidified, it would, within the space of seventy years, attain to the state of gold. There are some, however, who maintain that copper itself is gold, which by becoming solidified is in a diseased condition, and hath not therefore reached its own state.
Be that as it may, the real elixir will, in one instant, cause the substance of copper to attain the state of gold, and will traverse the seventy-year stages in a single moment. Could this gold be called copper? Could it be claimed that it hath not attained the state of gold, whilst the touch-stone is at hand to assay it and distinguish it from copper?
Likewise, these souls, through the potency of the Divine Elixir, traverse, in the twinkling of an eye, the world of dust and advance into the realm of holiness; and with one step cover the earth of limitations and reach the domain of the Placeless. It 158 behooveth thee to exert thine utmost to attain unto this Elixir which, in one fleeting breath, causeth the west of ignorance to reach the east of knowledge, illuminates the darkness of night with the resplendence of the morn, guideth the wanderer in the wilderness of doubt to the well-spring of the Divine Presence and Fount of certitude, and conferreth upon mortal souls the honour of acceptance into the Riḍván of immortality. Now, could this gold be thought to be copper, these people could likewise be thought to be the same as before they were endowed with faith" (Kitab-i iqan, pp.156-158).
The Lawḥ-i Sarrāj ("Tablet to the Muhammad `Alī Sarrāj (c. 1867- 8)
The important Lawḥ-i Sarrāj ("Tablet to the Muhammad `Alī Sarrāj (c. 1867- 8) also contains a few comments on matters alchemical. The following is the best known passage:
Consider the doubts which they who have joined partners with God have instilled into the hearts of the people of this land. “Is it ever possible,” they ask, “for copper to be transmuted into gold?” Say, Yes, by my Lord, it is possible. Its secret, however, lieth hidden in Our Knowledge. We will reveal it unto whom We will. Whoso doubteth Our power, let him ask the Lord his God, that He may disclose 198 unto him the secret, and assure him of its truth. That copper can be turned into gold is in itself sufficient proof that gold can, in like manner, be transmuted into copper, if they be of them that can apprehend this truth. Every mineral can be made to acquire the density, form, and substance of each and every other mineral. The knowledge thereof is with Us in the Hidden Book" (GWB XCVII: 197-8).
Writings of the Acre/West Galilean Period (1868-1892).
The "Tablet of the Elixir" (Lawh-i iksīr).
Among the scriptural Tablets of Bahā'-Allāh dating to the Acre period and known as the "Tablet of the Elixir" (Lawh-i iksīr), is one addressed to Mīrzā `Alī Muhammad Varqā' (d. 1896) (see Ishraq Khavari, ed. Ma'ida-yi asmani, vol. 1:19f).
Add here :
During the period of his residence in western Galilee, (Ottoman Palestine, 1868-92) Bahā'-Allāh came to forbid his followers to practice (exoteric) alchemy. He spoke of its secrets as something which would be known in the future. Though he continued to write letters in response questions on the theory and practice of exoteric alchemy he stressed the need for inner, mystic transformation. In several letters he went so far as to denigrate involvement with such abstruse and impractical matters as jafr and kimiya (alchemy) and to emphasize such pragmatic concerns as geometry and missionary work. The "alchemy" involved in the rescue of souls was to supersede exoteric alchemy and excessive concern with its theoretical basis. The alchemical treatises of past sages are, he sometimes taught, confused and unworthy of detailed study.
In his al-Kitab al-aqdas ("Most Holy Book" c.1873) Bahā'-Allāh at one point wrote:
"We have made the two affairs two signs of the maturity of the world. The first of them, which is the greatest basis, We sent down in the former Tablets and the second hath been sent down in this Wondrous Tablet."
In explaining this passage in later writings Bahā'-Allāh identified the first "sign" with the universal adoption of one language and script (as well as the Most Holy Book) or the realization of universal peace. The second "sign" is interpreted as the disclosure of the secret of the (exoteric) alchemical Art [now undisclosed and forbidden ], or alchemical gnosis as a part of the Divine Wisdom. Alternatively, the second "sign" of the world's maturity is disappearance of the institution of human kingship or sovereignty (something not mentioned in the Aqdas).
In line with the gradual evolution of Bābi and Bahā'ī religions doctrine out of a Shaykhi-gnostic and Sufi Islamic religious milieu, Shoghi Effendi (1897-1957) suggested that the realization of the abovementioned alchemical secrets found some fulfillment in the development of nuclear physics.
The study of Bahā'-Allāh's gradually evolving attitude towards alchemy provides a good illustration of the emergence of the Bahā'ī religion from its doctrinally Sufi-gnostic phase (1850's & early 1860's) into a more practical and rationalistic religious movement. The previously noted contemporary Bahā'ī ignorance of their Bābī-Bahā'ī alchemical scriptural texts, bears eloquent testimony to the extent of this transition. Socio-economic and related concerns, loom large today in the contemporary Bahā'ī world. Distinctly religious and mystical teachings, though not insignificant within Bahā'ī scripture, are not now much focused upon in contemporary occidental Bahā'ī communities.
Select passages from the writings of Baha'-Allah
GWB XCII: 183-4.
The Book of God is wide open, and His Word is summoning mankind unto Him. No more than a mere handful, however, hath been found willing to cleave to His Cause, or to become the instruments for its promotion. These few have been endued with the Divine Elixir that can, alone, transmute into purest gold the dross of the world, and have been empowered to administer the infallible remedy for all the ills that afflict the children of men. No man can obtain everlasting life, unless he embraceth the truth of this inestimable, this wondrous, and sublime Revelation...
GWB XCIX:200.
"The vitality of men’s belief in God is dying out in every land; nothing short of His wholesome medicine can ever restore it. The corrosion of ungodliness is eating into the vitals of human society; what else but the Elixir of His potent Revelation can cleanse and revive it? Is it within human power, O Hakím, to effect in the constituent elements of any of the minute and indivisible particles of matter so complete a transformation as to transmute it into purest gold? Perplexing and difficult as this may appear, the still greater task of converting satanic strength into heavenly power is one that We have been empowered to accomplish. The Force capable of such a transformation transcendeth the potency of the Elixir itself. The Word of God, alone, can claim the distinction of being endowed with the capacity required for so great and far-reaching a change".
Appendix 1.
PDf. Select works of Jābir ibn Hayyān and their translation from Kraus, Nomen al-Haqq etc.
Affifi, A.E.
1951 `The Influence of Hermetic Literature on Muslim Thought,' Bulletin of thc School of Oriental and African Studies, 1951, 13, pt. 4, 840.
Ambix = Ambix. Being the Journal of the Society for the Study of Alchemy and Early Chemistry. London I937 ff.
Berthelot, M. P. E.,
The previous standard, Collectzon des anciens alchimistes grecs, edited and translated by Marcellin, P. E. Berthelot and Charles-Émile Ruelle, 3 vols. (1887-1888; reprint, Osnabrück, 1967), will be superseded by Les alchimistes grecs, 12 vols. (1981-)..." (E Rel).
III. L'alchimie arabe, comprenant une introduction historique et les traités de Cratès, d'el-Habib, d'Ostanès et de Djaber tir és des manuscrits de Paris et de Leyde. Texte et traduction.... Avec la collaboration de O. HOUDAS. Nachdruck der Ausgabe von I893, Osnabrück-Amsterdam I967.
La Chimie au Moyen Age, vol. III, textes arabes éd. par M. Berthelot et O. Houdas, Paris, 1893, rééd. Osnabrück, Otto XellerāAmsterdam, Philo Press, 1967.
Brocklemann, C. [GALS]
Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur Suppkment. Leiden: 1937 (vol. I); 1938 (vol. II).
Burckhardt, T.,
1960 Die Alchemie, Freiburg 1960; English trans. by W. Stoddart as Alchemy, Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul, Baltimore, 1971.
Burnett, C. S. F.
1986 "Arabic, Greek, and Latin Works on Astrological Magic Attributed to Aristotle" in Kraye, Ryan, and Schmitt eds. [1986].
Corbin, Henry
1950: "Le livre du glorieux de Jabir ibn ayyan," Eranos-Jahrbuch, 1950, 18, 47.
1983: Cyclical Time and Ismal'ili Gnosis. London: 1983.
DSB = Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Ed.-in-Chief C. D. Gillispie. New York: 1970-80.
EI (1st ed.)
The Encyclopaedia of Islam, eds. M. T. Houtsma and T. W. Arnold. Leiden: 1913-38.
EI2 (2nd ed)
The Enyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition, eds. H. A. R Gibb, et al Leiden: 1954-
El-Eswed, Basim I.,
`Spirits: The Reactive Substances in Jabir's Alchemy' in Arabic Science and Philosophy vol. 16 (2006), 71-90.
Mircea Eliade (ed.)
Enc. Rel. = Encyclopedia of Religion. New York, 1987.
Eranos-Jahrbuch = Eranos-Jahrbuch, Zürich I933 ff.
Fuck, J.W
1951 "The Arabic Literature on Alchemy According to An-Nadim (A.D. 987)," Ambix, 1951, 4, 34, 81.
Gorceix, Bernard,
1980 Alchimie: Traites alemanaics du XVIe siècle .. Paris:?
Haq, Syed Nomanul.
1994 Names, Natures and Things, The Alchemist Jābir ibn Ḥayyān and his Kitāb al-Ajār (Book of Stones). With a Foreword by David E. Pingree (Brown University) [= Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science. Volume 158] ed. Robert S. Cohen, Boston University. Kluwer Academic Publishers Dordrecht / Boston / London, 1994.
`Greek alchemy or Shi`i metaphysics? A preliminary statement concerning Jabir ibn Hayyan's Zahir and Batin Language' in Bulletin of the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies Vol. 4/ii (2002) 19-32.
Holmyard, Eric. J.
1922 "Jabir ibn Hayyan," Procecdings of the Royal Socicty of Medicine (Section on the History of Medicine), 1922, 16, 1, 46.
1924 Maslama al-Majriti and the Rutbat al-Hakzm," Isis, 1924, 6, 293.
1924(a) `A Critical Examination of Berthelot's Work upon Arabic Chemistry," Isis, 1924, 6, 479.
1925 "The Present Position of the Geber Problem," Science Progress, 1925, 19, 415.
1927 "An Essay on Jabir ibn Hayyan" in J. Ruska ed. [1927] .
ed. [1928] `The Arabic Works of Jābir ibn Ḥayyān, vol. I, Part 1 (Arabic Text). Paris: Librarie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, 1928.
1955 "AIchemy in Medieval Islam," Endeavour, July, 1955, 117.
1957 Alchemy. London: 1957.
Hopkins. A. J.
1938 "A Study of Kerotakis Process as Given by Zosimus and Later Alchemical Writers," Isis, 1938, 79, 2, 326.
Idel, Moshe.
1986 `The Origin of Alchemy According to Zosimus . . ." Revue des Études Juives, l44 1986:117-24.
Ikhwān al-Safā'
Rasa'il = Rasā'il, ed. Kh. al-Zirikli, 4 vols. Cairo: 1928.
al-`Irāqi, Abu aI-Qāsim Muhammad ibn Aḥmad
K. `ilm = Kitāb al-`Ilm al-mubtasab fi zirā'at adh-dhahab (Book of Knowledge Acquired Concerning the Cultivation of Gold) by Abu 'I-Qāsim Muhammad ibn Aḥmad Ar-'Irāqi. Arabic Text Ed. trans. and Introd. by E. J. Holmyard. Paris I923.
Jābir ibn Ḥayān [see appendix 1]:
URL ...
Jung, C.G.,
The Collected Works of C. G. Jung, edited by H. Reed, M. Fordham. G. Adler, and W. McGuire. Translated by R.F.C. Hull, L. Stein, in collaboration with D. Riveere and H. G. Baynes. 17 volumes in 18, continuing. Bollingen Series XX. New York: Pantheon Books, Princetion: Princeton University Press, London Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1953-. Vol. 13 Alchemical Studies, Vol. 14 Mysterium conjunctionis: An Inquiry into the Separation and Synthesis of Psychic Opposites in Alchemy.
Kahane, Henry and Renée.
"Alchemy: Hellenistic and Medieval Alchcmy," Enc. Rel. Encyclopedia of Religion (New York, 1987), 1:195.
Kraus, Paul.
1930 "Der Zusammenbruch der Dchabir-Legende; II, Dschabir iLn Hajjan und die Isma'ilijja," Forschungsinstitutfur Geschichteder Naturwissenschaffcn, Berlin, Dritter Jahresbericht, 1930, 378.
ed. [1935] Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (Essai sur l'histoire des ide'as scientifques dans l'Islam, vol. I): Textes choisics. Cairo: 1935.
1936 "Raziana II," Orientalia, 1936, N.S. 5, 35-36, 335-
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Joseph-Garment 1
Home › Joseph-Garment 1
כְּתנֶת פַּסִּים
The eschatological כְּתֹנֶת פַּסִּים "coat of many colors" in Islamo-biblical literatures and in the Qayyūm al-asmā'.
The motif of the garment of the biblical-Qur'ānic Jospeh and its Bābī-Bahā'ī interpretations
Stephen Lambden 1987.
Under Revision and completion. 2009-10 + 2016 - last updated 23-08-2016
The Hebrew phrase כְּתנֶת פַּסִּים ketonet passīm [1] occurs in Genesis 37:3. As will be seen this Hebrew phrase has been translated in a variety of ways. The Authorized (King James Version, 1611) rendering "coat of many colours" perhaps being the best known:
וְיִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל אָהַ֤ב אֶת־יֹוסֵף֙ מִכָּל־בָּנָ֔יו כִּֽי־בֶן־זְקֻנִ֥ים ה֖וּא לֹ֑ו וְעָ֥שָׂה לֹ֖ו כְּתֹ֥נֶת פַּסִּֽים׃
Genesis 37:3 Hebrew text: Westminster Leningrad Codex
"[3] Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a coat of many colours."
It is widely admitted by competent Hebraists among modern Biblical scholars that the exact sense of the Hebrew phrase ketonet passīm is unknown or uncertain. [2] It might be indicative of some kind of ornamented cloak or tunic. The Hebrew certainly indicates ,
"some kind of ostentatious garment such as would not normally be worn by a working man. The only other place in the old Testament where the phrase occurs is in 2 Sam. I3: 18‑19 where it is `the usual dress of unmarried princesses'." (Davidson, CBC:218).
Exactly the same phrase then, occurs in the story of Absalom and his sister (children of King David) Tamar (2 Sam. 13:18-19); "And she [Tamar] had a garment of divers colours upon her; for with such robes were the king's daughters that were virgins apparalled. And Tamar put ashes on her head and rent the garment of divers colous that was on her.." (AV = KJV).
Speiser who wrote the Anchor Bible Commentary on Genesis in 1962, translated the Hebrew ketonet passīm, "an ornamented tunic." wrote the following philologically learned note:
"The traditional "coat of many colors," and the variant "coat with sleeves" are sheer guesses from the context; nor is there anything remarkable about either colors or sleeves. The phrase, Heb. ketonet passīm, occurs aside from this section (also vss. 23, 32) only in II Sam xiii 18f., where it describes a garment worn by daughters of kings. Cuneiform inventories may shed light on the garment in question. Among various types of clothing listed in the texts, there is one called kit_ (or kutinn_) pišannu (cf. JNES 8 [1949], 177). The important thing there, besides the close external correspondence with the Heb. phrase, is that the article so described was a ceremonial robe which could be draped about statues of goddesses, and had various gold ornaments sewed onto it. Some of these ornaments would occasionally come undone and need to be sent to the proper craftsman for repairs, hence the notation in the inventories. If the comparison is valid ─ and there are several things in its favor ─ the second element in the Heb. phrase, i.e.,passīm would be an adaptation of Akk. pišannu, a technical term denoting appliqué ornaments on costly vests and bodices." (Speiser, Genesis, 289-290).
In the Word Bible Commentary on Genesis 37:3 Gordon J Wenham comments as follows on the above interpretation of Speiser,
“Special tunic.” On “tunic,” cf. Comment on [Genesis] 3:21. What was “special” about this tunic is uncertain. Apart from this chapter, the term occurs only in 2 Sam 13:18–19 as the robe of a princess. “Many-colored” goes back to the LXX [Greek trans.] and Vulgate translation. Another possibility based on the cognate Aramaic term פס “palm of hand or foot” is that it was a long garment reaching to the ankles or the wrists, i.e., with sleeves. Speiser compares the Akkadian term kitū pišannu, a ceremonial robe with gold ornamentation. But whatever the tunic looked like, it marked Jacob’s special affection for Joseph and served as a perpetual reminder to his brothers." (p.351).
As indicated above, it should be noted here that the Authorized, King James' (1611) traditional version "coat of many colours" -- actually reflects the ancient Greek, Septuagint (LXX) rendering ποικίλος = kitona poikilos ("coat of many colours"). Gerhard Von Rad in his (OTL) Genesis, A Commentary (SCM., 3rd rev. ed, 1972) wrote,
"The garment given to Joseph by his father was a dress coat, i.e., not the clocklike wrap that the man on the street wore. It was distinguished from the usual ones by its length, and the length of its sleeves; it was a luxury which only those who did not have to work could think of having (Gu.). The garment is once again mentioned, significantly, as the garb of royal princesses (II Sam. I3. I8 f.). The LXX and its dependent Vulgate have interpreted the Hebrew word, whose meaning has not yet been satisfactorily explained, in the sense of [ποικίλος] "variegated," [or multi-coloured] and the translation in the King James Version derives from that. Thus the picture of the spoiled and preferred figure Joseph is painted with very few strokes; he is the foil for the brothers who are coritriving evil." (p.351 on Gen 37:3-4).
Lowenthal, The Joseph Narrative in Genesis, (New York:Ktav, 1973), pp.16-17
"3b And he had made for him ketonet passim ─ a tunic of distinction. The meaning of this term was already lost at the time when II Sam. 13: 18ff. was written, for to explain it, its author adds, "With such robes were the king's daughters that were virgins apparelled."
Unsourced, another writer has it that, 8
"Reproductions of 4000 years old paintings . . . show that the garb of the Canaanite aristocrats ... contemporaries of Jacob, was an ankle‑length, chemise‑shaped gown with colored, embroidered stitches down the side and middle. Sometimes, sashes with colored, diagonal stripes draped the thighs.
"With this ornamented tunic Israel marked Joseph for the chieftainship of the firstborn after his death.!' Joseph's vanity may have caused Jacob to make the mistake of bestowing such a tunic upon him at so early an age. Or did Providence "blind" his judgment?
Since such a tunic impedes physical work, Joseph seems now to have been relieved from pasturing the sheep and, as legend has it, to have turned exclusively to study with his elders." (pp.16-17)
Some ancient Jewish and Christian translations of ketonet passīm (Gen 37:3bβ)
= "many coloured"
Aramaic Targumim
Onkelos = "a tunic of stripes" (kituna..) or `reaching to the hands and ankles'
Targum Ps. Jon. = "an embroidered garment" (..pargod)
Peshitta [Syriac]
"with long sleeves"
Ancient Greek and Latin versions
Aquila + Vulgte = "of many threads"
Vulgate trans. 1949: "and he dressed him in a coat that was all embroidery"
Some Arabic and Persian translations of ketonet passīm (Gen 37:3bβ)
Watts 1833> Rome 1671 Sergius Rissus
".so he fashioned for him a ornamented [variagated, patched?] coat"
= ADD ARABIC (.,s)ana`a lahu qamīs an muṣawwar an) cf. add (.,S)-W.R
Van Dyck, "so he fashioned for him a multi-coloured coat"
= fa-EQ \O(.,s)ana`a lahu qam_EQ \O(.,s) an mulawwan an) cf. II L-W.N
Select Modern translations of the Hebrew ketonet passīm (Gen 37:3bβ)
Authorized [King James] Version, (1611) "a coat of many colours";
Revised Version [1870 inter. demon. (British) 1885] "a coat of many colours" : note here = "or a long garment with sleeves"...
On this rendering see for example S.R. Driver The Book of Genesis [Westminster Commentaries London: Methuen & Co, 1904), p. 322 n.3 on "coat on many colours" which reads, "A coat- or more strictly a tunic --of palms and soles ie reaching to the hands and feet (which is what is meant by RVm); opp to the ordinary tunic, which had no sleeves, and reached only to the knees. So 2S xiii.18f (worn in David's time by royal princesses)." This is more or less repeated by Skinner, Genesis, [Edinburgh:T&T Clark, 1919] ICC:444. "[Heb KP]a shirt or tunic reaching to the extremities ([Heb. Passīm]),i.e. the wrists and ankles, whereas the ordinary under-garment was sleeveless, and reached only to the knees. That it was an unusual habiliment appears also from 2.Sam 1318f ; but speculations as to its mythological significance (ATLO2) have no support in either passage..".
American Standard Version [1901]"???" ;
Revised Standard Version [Hebrew Bible = 1952] The RSV is a revision of the ASV [1901] completed in 1952 then further revised in 1959 and 1971.= "a long robe with sleeves";
1964 Anchor Bible Commentary, Genesis [Speiser, 1964] "an ornamented tunic" = "[3] Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, for he was the child of his old age; and he made him an ornamented tunic. [4] When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of his other sons, they came to hate him so much that they could not say a kind word to him... 31 They took Joseph's tunic, slaughtered a kid, and dipped the tunic in its blood. 32 They had the ornamented tunic taken to their father, and they said, "We found this. Make sure whether it is your son's tunic or not." 33 He recognized it, and exclaimed, "My son's tunic! A wild beast devoured him! Joseph fell prey to beasts!" (Speiser, ABC Genesis, 1964).
1970 New English Bible [= NEB 1970] "a long, sleeved robe" [6]; "[3] Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was a child of his old age, and he made him a long, sleeved robe. [4] When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not say a kind word to him." (NEB)
1978 New International Version = "a richly ornamented robe";
Jerusalem Bible (Roman Catholic) [1966] "a coat with long sleeves";
New Jerusalem Bible (Roman Catholic) [1985] "???" ;
New American Bible (Roman Catholic [USA]) [1970] "???" ;
Living Bible [1971] "a brightly-colored coat";
New American Standard [Version] Bible [= NASB ; a revision of the American Standard Version of 1901. 1971] "a varicolored tunic";
New King James [Revised Authorized] Version [1982] "a tunic of many colours"
[1]The word ketonet basically signifies some kind of outer garment (see Gen 3:21; Exod. 28:4 etc). The Hebrew passīm occurs only in the aforementioned passages.
[2] So for example, Davidson NEB commentary Gen. ADD "The meaning of the Hebrew phrase is uncertain" though the phrase ketonet passīm is basically indicative of some kind of ornamented cloak.
The garment of Joseph in the Qur'ān and select Islamic literatures.
The story of Joseph is detailed in the twelfth surah or chapter of the Qur'an though it does not always repeat or correspond with its biblical prototype recorded in the book of Genesis.
Qur'an 12:18 contains a reference to the qamis (garment) of Joseph and reads as follows:
"And they came and placed upon his garment (qamis) false blood (damm kadhib) such that he [Jacob on seeing this garment] said, `Nay indeed! You have contrived this matter since your own selves have thus enticed you! So patience (sabr) is apposite (jamil). God indeed is the One whse help is sought (al-musta`an) against whatsoever you alledge".
The garment of Joseph in the writings of the Bāb (d. Tabriz 1850 CE)
Joseph = Husayn= Qayyum = Man yuzhiru-hu Alláh
The Báb equates Joseph with the Imám Husayn. This in the light of his belief in his imminent eschatological "return" (raj`a) and his role as the "gate" (bab) to the hidden Imám. Subsequent to his transference to Adhirbayjan he claimed to be both the Mahdi-Qa'im and the Divine-Joseph (qayyum-yusuf). Towards the end of his ministry, he furthermore, came to see Joseph as a type of the Bábí messiah *man yuzhiru-hu Alláh* ("He whom God shall make manifest") whom he, in his Kitáb al-asma' ("Book of Names") (1849-50) refers to as the "all-glorious Joseph" (yusuf al-Bahá').
This reference is in that section of his extensive and complex Kitáb al-asma' commenting upon the name of God al-Bashir ("the Herald"). There mention is made to the robe or garment of the Joseph of Bahá'. This pasage has been interpreted by Ishraq Khavari relative to Bahá'u'lláh as the Bábí messiah figure man yuzhiru-hu Alláh (see Ishraq Khavari, QI 4:1870ff) — note the use of the word bashir ("bearer/herald of good tidings") in Q.12:93 where the episode of Joseph's garment being placed on the face of the patriach Jacob/Israel restoring his vision — "But when the bearer of good tidings [bashir] came to him, and laid it [the qamis, "robe/garment") on his [Jacob's] face [wajh], forthwith he saw once again..". It is this Qur'anic verse which lies behind the Báb's exegetical rewrite of it in the Kitáb al-asma' :
"Hearken! Then take ye firm hold of the garment of the Joseph of Bahá' (qamis yusuf al-Bahá') from the hand of His Exalted, Transcendent Herald of Glad Tidings (mubashshirihi al-`alí al-a`la). And place it upon thy head in order that thou might recover thy sight (or `be endowed with insight' ) and discover thyself truly aware." (text as cited in QI 4:1875).
The garment of Joseph in the writings of Bahā'-Allāh (d. Acre 1892 CE).
The motif of the qamis (Robe, gament...) as rooted in the Qur'anic story of Jospeh is common and centrally important in the writings of Baha'-Allah, the founder of the Baha'i religion. In Baha'i scriptural writing this Arabic and Persian loanword Qamis betokens the beauty of the eschatological theophany as well as the blood-stained nature of its genesis and of the life of its founder prophet. The following few noyes must suffice to illustrate this.
The qamis in the Sūrat al-Qamis (The Surah of the Robe).
The scriptural tablet (lawh) of Baha'-Allah entitled the Sūrat al-Qamis (The Surah of the Robe) dates from the early-mid. Edirne-Adrianople period (c. 1864-5) and is wholly in Arabic spanning around twenty-five pages in the original. It exists in numerous mss. and has several times been published. It contains sections addressed to Radi al-Ruh (AQA IV:49>) and other individals. The Arabic word qamis meaning robe or garment is several times used and is suggestive of the eschatological enrobement of Baha'-Allah with the magnificent garment of the Israelite prophet Yusuf or Joseph, the paragon of divine beauty (jamal). This work has a preliminary self-designation:
This is the Sūrat al-qamīṣ (The Surah of the Garment).
We, in very truth, sent it down as a Manifestation of My Temple (maẓhar haykalī) betwixt all the worlds!
Here the haykal (Temple) of Baha'-Allah's theophanic persona is associated with the motif of the garment of the new, eschatological Joseph.
We subsequently read :
"We sent unto thee this qamis ("Garment= Robe") which hath been sprinkled (marshush an) [perfumed] with blood (damm) which is authentic [veracious-true] (sadiq) perchance thou might thereby rise up... (AQA IV: xx).
Just as Joseph's garment according to Qur'an 12:18 was sprinkled with "false blood (damm kadhib)", so on the contrary was the robe of the person of Baha'-Allah sprinkled or perfumed with a redemptive or authentic (sadiq) sacrificial blood. It was not the blood allegedly spilt by the non-existent wolf, but the veracious life-giving blood of salvation like that of the crucified Jesus.
On the Sūrat al-qamīṣ see further:
Introduction see further, http://hurqalya.ucmerced.edu/node/373/
PDf. Mss. and printed editions of the original text. S-Qamis-AQA IV.pdf
Sūrat al-Qamis (The Surah of the Robe). Translation and Commentary.
The qamis in the Lawh-i Baha' (The Surah of Baha')
Commencement of the Lawh-i Baha' in INBMC 35
The Lawh-i Baha' (The Surah of Baha' - Resplendent Glory, c. 1865-6?, text in INBMC 35: 70-81) of Baha'-Allah also dates to around early (January, 1866 CE) or to the middle of the Edirne or Adrianople period (c. 1865-6? ). At its very beginning (see image above) the motif of the qamis is found :
"He is the All-Eternal" (huwa al-baqi [baqa]).
O Maidservant of God (amat-Allah)! [= Khatun Jan Qazviniyya]
Be patient under all circumstances and mindful of the fact that the robe of this Youth (qamis al-ghulam) was dyed crimson with the blood of enmity betwixt earth and heaven. At every moment he crieth out with a soul-saddending cry [Call] (bi-nida' hazin). All of his associates that attempted to succour him found themselves assailed by the swords of emnity (suyuf al-hasad).
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Books • Weekend
The Poet as a Dream Guide
In Joseph Donahue’s Wind Maps I-VII we are led out of sleep by the poet, just as he has been led out of sleep by a dream guide, into a renewal of mythic or storied truth.
Norman FinkelsteinJanuary 4, 2020
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Wind Maps I-VII by Joseph Donahue (Talisman House, Publishers)
“The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” — John 3:8 (King James Version)
Joseph Donahue’s Wind Maps I-VII (Talisman House, Publishers) marks an important departure for a poet who has written in a variety of styles, but has maintained a singular vision through his previous seven books. Donahue is one of several contemporary poets who are reinventing the poem — especially the long poem — as spiritual quest. (Others include Nathaniel Mackey, Susan Howe, Peter O’Leary, and Lissa Wolsak, to name a few.) Looking back to mid-century poet-mythographers such as Charles Olson and Robert Duncan, these are writers who engage any number of religious traditions to produce, as Donahue puts it in Wind Maps, “if not a body of light, // a body becoming / a kind of light.” Throughout Wind Maps, we find allusions to Jewish holidays, to the temporal cycles of Hindu cosmology, to Muhammed’s mystical Night Journey, to the hexagrams of the I Ching, to Greek, Egyptian, and Mesopotamian mythology, and, of course, to the wind of the Gospel of John (which Donahue quotes as an epigraph to one section of the book). The result is a “symposium of the whole,” in Duncan’s famous phrase (from The H.D. Book, 2011), out of which we hear his “cry for a mode of being / that has never yet existed.” In this book, as in so much of Donahue’s poetry, even the most ancient and esoteric spiritual ideas lead us to an understanding of contemporary events and the tragedies of our recent history, so that we can grapple with them and perhaps look beyond them to psychic, if not social, restoration. As Donahue wryly tells us, “An influx of divine intelligence / can be disorienting.”
Such being the case, the question that the poet must address is how to find a style, a form that can accommodate a prophetic sensibility without falling prey to obscurity or bombast. A number of his previous books, including the recent Red Flash on a Black Field (published by Black Square Editions and edited by Hyperallergic Weekend’s John Yau), feature an aggressively fractured, post-New York School heteroglossia that, at its most intense, drops us in an unlikely space between the mundane and the apocalyptic — John Ashbery meets William Blake. Closer to the tonalities of Wind Maps is the ongoing, multi-volume serial poem Terra Lucida. Written in terse but flexible couplets, Terra Lucida takes its title from the “Earth of Light,” the spiritual paradise of Iranian mysticism, and encompasses a range of discourses, including personal memories, historical and current events, reworkings of myth and parable, midrashic commentary, ecstatic prophecy, exhortation, hymn, psalm, and prayer. Much the same can be said of Wind Maps, with one significant difference: unlike Terra Lucida’s couplets, Donahue’s new sequence takes the form of loose, aerated stanzas and short passages that hover and drift on the page. The wind bloweth where it listeth to be sure, but much to Donahue’s credit, he gracefully rides the currents of his inspiration as “Gust after gust / gifts are / set down.”
Keeping the form of the poem at least somewhat tethered are two repeated headings atop various passages. Some sections are simply labeled dream. These do indeed have the look and feel of the poet’s personal dreamwork. Characters from his personal past return unexpectedly; common objects appear in unlikely settings; archetypal figures engage in rituals both portentous and slightly absurd. As is so often the case with dreams, we are in a world that “provokes in each a hope of / some immense understanding / yet to arrive.” In an essay on Terra Lucida, Peter O’Leary notes that “Themes of dreaming and waking run throughout Donahue’s poem, whose character I would describe as an epic trance of hypnopompic mythos.” We find this in Wind Maps too: we are led out of sleep by the poet, just as he has been led out of sleep by a hypnopomp, a dream guide, into a renewal of mythic or storied truth. This is the goal of the poet’s quest, as, for example, in one marvelous symbolic passage in which a father and son, following dream instructions, take a boat to a dark island, seeking a page in the tray of a copier in a shed. What is written on the page? An inscription of the dream? The poem itself? We are not told.
Other sections of the book bear the heading minor lives. It’s a little more difficult to generalize about these, but they appear to be fragments of anecdotes or conversations drawn from real life, which the poet has found worthy of note, due to their pathos and, perhaps, implied political relevance. They usually consist of quotations and provide an effective contrast to the more abstract lyricism that is Donahue’s prevailing mode. Consider this excerpt, which seems like an extract from a pop culture exposé:
So bad, the Feds had to step in. Forget
the Rat Pack. The Rat Pack thing was a lie.
When they were in town, Sammy Davis Jr.
had to stay on the west side. It was evil,
but also, great. At night, east side gigs done,
the musicians came west and played till
dawn. Johnny Hodges kept a mistress there.
For two bucks, you could see Count Basie.
It was evil, but it was also great.
Racism, enacted in segregation, is directed at black musicians and entertainers, including such notable figures as Sammy Davis Jr., Johnny Hodges, and Count Basie: nothing in any way “minor” here. In another, we read that “The corporation does not own your cells / only the means by which you know / what your cells are doing,” leading to a discussion of medical and legal issues, “because your death is / the corporation’s future life.”
Against such malign powers, what can the visionary poet do? At one point, Donahue allies himself with Dante, another cartographer of the Spirit:
my ear
turned to
the pure song of
subvocal
moans where
hell is
to the digressions of
each utterance is
a spiraling
climb of
Donahue understands that the poet-prophet must be a faithful recorder, listening to the songs, the moans, the spiraling utterances, even if they seem to be mere asides. But he also grasps that “Everything you have ever written / hides what you saw in heaven.” Indeed, as one of his guides tells him, “A great force maintains / the tyranny of the apparent, / … because what is kept hidden // would annihilate // what now seems to be…” Against that forgetting, against that tyranny, the poet does his work. He gives us a glimpse of what is kept hidden.
Wind Maps I-VII by Joseph Donahue (2018) is published by Talisman House.
Joseph DonahueTalisman House PublishersWeekend
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Archives for posts with tag: Joel and Ethan Coen
Unbroken ***1/2
Council on Foreign Relations creature Angelina Jolie directs Unbroken , a.k.a. (as it shalt be known for the purposes of this cinematic exegesis) The Unbroken Passion of G.I. Goy, the Judeo-Christian fable of Olympic athlete Louis Zamperini (Jack O’Connell), his war service to organized Jewry, and his long and not particularly interesting tenure as a P.O.W. Equal parts war movie, survival story, and prison film, The Unbroken Passion of G.I. Goy’s most satisfying passage is the section in which Zamperini and two other survivors of a plane crash are stranded at sea for more than a month in a lifeboat. For the remainder of the film, Zamperini stoically endures forced labor and regular torture at the hands of the Yellow Peril. One might have expected something more engaging (or at least more divertingly offbeat) from screenwriters Joel and Ethan Coen, but what the audience gets is tolerable, if judged by the standards of neocon fodder.
3.5 out of 5 possible stars. Ideological Content Analysis indicates that The Unbroken Passion of G.I. Goy is:
4. Sodomy-ambivalent. Showing their solidarity with the globalist gay agenda, P.O.W.s put on a drag show. A pox on progressive internationalist Angelina Jolie, however, for resorting to the cookie-cutter homosexual villain type in the characterization of Commander Watanabe (Takamasa Ishihara). Shame on her and the Coen brothers for their clearly unreconstructed Hollywood hetero-fascism!
3. Pro-immigration. Zamperini serves as the poster boy immigrant son whose mother still speaks Italian. Bigoted Anglo-Saxon boys pick on him and call him a “wop”, unaware that he will go on to become a war hero and suffer his Unbroken Passion for all of their sins of WASP privilege. Even his underwhelming eighth-place finish in the 5,000 meter race at the Berlin Olympics is treated as an immaculate triumph for America, democracy, and equality, a companion feat to that of fellow diversifier Jesse Owens (Bangalie Keita), and the film actually attempts to give the impression that the crowd in Olympic Stadium is cheering for Zamperini.
2. Ostensibly Christian. Zamperini, initially an agnostic or atheist, is eventually moved by the Spirit to become the personal Jesus of his fellow P.O.W.s. In the triumphant moment of his Unbroken Passion, Zamperini is made to lift a cumbersome beam, the framing unsubtly calling to mind Christ’s bearing of the cross, after which he must stand crucifixion-like with it or be shot by the sadistic Jap-Romans.
1. Pro-war. The opening shot of The Unbroken Passion of G.I. Goy is a dreamscape of clouds accompanied by the singing of a chorus as of angels. Soon the angels materialize as American bombers doing the righteous bidding of FDR’s Yahweh-state. In The Unbroken Passion of G.I. Goy’s most laughable scene, a P.O.W. falls to his knees and weeps on hearing the news that FDR has died. Oh, no! God is dead! Yes, seventy years later, the Jew World Order is still cranking out stupid WW2 propaganda movies – in other words, hardcore porn for folks like the annoyingly coughing old Tea Party type who sat behind this reviewer and commented with a reverent and wistful air during the trailer for Selma that “if they hadn’t killed him, things’d be different today.”
Make no mistake: the tableaux of ruined Jap buildings and bodies is included not to evoke sympathy for the victims of Allied war crimes, but as a warning of what can be expected to befall any Eastern powers attempting to resist the will of ZOG. (Malaysian jet pilots, are you reading this?) The detail that the Japanese have beheaded some prisoners is no doubt intended to engender a subconscious psychological continuity between the viewer’s experience of the still highly marketable “good war” against nationalist Europe and Japan and the current money pit conflict against “ISIS” (Israeli Secret Intelligence Service?).
Tags 1936 Olympics, action, action movies, analysis, Angelina Jolie, angels, Bangalie Keita, beheading, Berlin Olympics, bomber, CFR, Christ figure, Christian, Christianity, cinema, Coen Brothers, Council on Foreign Relations, criticism, critique, crucifixion, decapitation, drag queen, Ethan Coen, FDR, film, gay agenda, gay rights, globalism, globalist, God, homosexuality, immigrant, immigration, ISIL, ISIS, Israel, Israeli Secret Intelligence Service, Italian-American, Jack O'Connell, Japan, Japanese, Jesse Owens, Jesus, Jew World Order, Jewish, Jewry, Jews, Joel and Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, JWO, Louis Zamperini, Malaysia, Martin Luther King, MLK, Mossad, movies, new world order, NWO, plane crash, POW, prison, prisoner of war, pro-immigration, pro-war, propaganda, review, Second World War, Selma, Takamasa Ishihara, Tea Party, terrorism, torture, transvestism, transvestite, Unbroken, war crimes, war film, War on Terror, WASP, World War 2, World War Two, WW2, WWII, Yahweh, Zion, Zionism, Zionist, Zionist Occupation Government, ZOG
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Archives for posts with tag: recession
Blue Jasmine *****
Embarrassing for a white nationalist to admit, Jewish pervert Allan Konigsberg (alias Woody Allen) remains one of this writer’s favorite directors despite the auteur’s corrosive persona and poisonous cultural influence. Now, with Blue Jasmine, the seriocomic pedo-provocateur furnishes Cate Blanchett with her best and strongest role to date as the fallen Park Avenue socialite spouse of sleazebag Wall Street operator Alec Baldwin, who, after being caught “up to his ass in phony real estate and bank fraud” and committing suicide in prison, has left her penniless, alone, and psychologically brittle. Moving in with her blue collar adopted sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins) in San Francisco, Jasmine struggles to adjust to her lowered station in life – a situation Konigsberg expertly fondles, balancing audience schadenfreude with surprising sympathy. The cast is perfect, the jazz is hot, and Woody is in top form. Fans will enjoy.
5 stars. Ideological Content Analysis indicates that Blue Jasmine is:
7. Drug-ambivalent. “You drink, you become a jerk.” Characters imbibe throughout, sometimes to the impediment of their judgment. Overcoming addiction is presented as an accomplishment, but Blue Jasmine constantly runs the risk of promoting a kind of nervous breakdown chic given how good Blanchett looks in the film – at least until the concluding scenes, when her traumas and bad habits show on her face. “Have you ever gotten high on nitrous oxide?” asks randy dentist Dr. Flicker (Michael Stuhlbarg).
6. Liberal. “The government took everything,” moans hypocrite Jasmine. “The first thing you gotta know,” her husband earlier warns, “is how to not give half your money to the government.” Resistance to taxation and redistribution of wealth is thereby framed as the scheming of a white financial criminal to avoid paying his fair share of the common burden. Working for the State Department, meanwhile, is “glamorous”.
5. Multiculturalist. New York and San Francisco appear as peaceful and orderly multi-ethnic metropolises. A note of discord is struck when Jasmine, working as a dentist’s receptionist, snaps, “Can you just put someone on [the phone] who speaks better English?” Presumably, though, this is only supposed to mark the character as a bit of a bigot instead of a person with a valid dislike of America’s multicultural experiment.
4. Pro-miscegenation. The film includes multiple white/Asian pairings. In one scene, a white man and Asian woman gawk in bemusement as Jasmine hallucinates and talks to herself. The mixed couple is thus the face of normalcy, the fair Nordic that of pathology.
3. Pro-slut. “It’s not like we’re engaged, so, you know, I’m free.” Ginger, quickly seduced by a man she meets at a party, shamelessly discusses her sex life within earshot of her children.
2. Anti-marriage. Baldwin plays a serial philanderer. Jasmine says her sister’s husband “used to hit her.” Louis Szekely (alias Louis C.K.) plays another cheater.
1. Crypto-Zio-capitalist. As with Arbitrage (2012), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), and Assault on Wall Street (2013), it is the hated European gentile male and not the Jew who serves as the representative figure in financial shenanigans. “Jesus Christ almighty,” Konigsberg’s script has “philistine businessman” Baldwin gripe when arrested. Jews instead come across as the victims, with Baldwin bilking brother-in-law Andrew Clay Silverstein (alias Andrew “Dice” Clay) and his ostensibly Catholic but Jewish-looking and therefore subtextually Semitic wife out of all of their lottery winnings and savings. Audience sympathy is generally with the down-to-earth crypsis-Jews rather than with the snooty elitist blonde. Hilariously, Baldwin’s innocently idealistic Ivy League son and heir Danny, who rejects him after learning of his fraudulent dealings, is played by a Jew, Alden Ehrenreich. All of this, of course, only serves to obscure the reality of Zio-financial hegemony and Jewish supremacism.
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Tags adoption, affair, Alden Ehrenreich, Alec Baldwin, Allan Konigsberg, Andrew Clay Silverstein, Andrew Dice Clay, anti-family, anti-marriage, anti-white, Arbitrage, Assault on Wall Street, Blue Jasmine, business, California, crypsis, crypto-Jew, dentist, drug-ambivalent, economic crash, economic downturn, fraud, Gravier Productions, infidelity, Ivy League, jazz, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jewish, Jewish supremacism, Jewish supremacist, Jewry, Jews, leftism, liberal, liberalism, Louis C.K., Louis Szekely, Michael Stuhlbarg, miscegenation, multiculturalism, multiculturalist, New York, nitrous oxide, Park Avenue, party, Perdido Productions, pro-miscegenation, pro-slut, recession, Sally Hawkins, San Francisco, sleaze, slut, subtext, The Wolf of Wall Street, Wall Street, Woody Allen, Zionism, Zionist, ZOG
Black Sea ****1/2
August 14, 2015 //
Directed by documentarian Kevin MacDonald – no, not that Kevin MacDonald – Black Sea is a taut, gritty undersea suspense feature, a fine addition to the venerable submarine subgenre that manages to be original while also echoing The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) in its story of treachery motivated by lust for gold. Jude Law, never one of this writer’s favorite actors, turns in a surprisingly masculine turn as an unemployed submariner who signs on with a ragtag, half-British, half-Russian team of dead-enders to swipe a sunken cache of Nazi gold and spite his previous employers by beating them to the punch. Black Sea also packs a major plot twist that ratchets the tension nicely. Definitely recommended.
4.5 out of 5 stars. Ideological Content Analysis indicates that Black Sea is:
4. Anti-tobacco. Peters (David Threlfall) has emphysema, reminding audiences of the dangers of smoking.
3. Anti-fascist. The backstory on the treasure is that Hitler, with Nazi Germany’s economy on the verge of collapse in 1941, extorted an exorbitant “loan” from Stalin’s “neutral” U.S.S.R. with a threat of invasion if the demanded sum was not received. The implication would seem to be that, while the communists enjoyed an ebullient economy, Hitler’s Third Reich was an inefficient basket case that could generate prosperity only through intimidation and violence. Nazis in a sunken sub are also revealed to have engaged in cannibalism.
2. Anti-corporate, anti-bankster. Financial elites inspire loathing and corporate players cannot be trusted.
1. Egalitarian. Robinson (Jude Law) dictates that every man in the crew is to receive an equal share of the booty regardless of his specific responsibilities or national origin. The submarine therefore functions as a microcosm of an experimental socialist society – one that sinks or floats on the strength of collective cooperation. Fraser (Ben Mendelsohn, reunited with Killing Them Softly costar Scoot McNairy, who plays corporate weasel Daniels) is the unredeemable teabagger type in the group, who thinks his ethnic cohort deserves a bigger share of the loot and refuses to share with the Russians. It is Fraser, with his combination of individualistic greed and jingoism, who will more than once put the crew in serious peril. Robinson, through his climactic demonstration of heroism, proves to be motivated more by a sense of justice and vengeance against a hostile elite than by greed or personal pettiness.
Tags anti-bankster, anti-corporate, anti-fascist, anti-tobacco, banker, Ben Mendelsohn, Black Sea, British, cannibal, cannibalism, cinema, collectivism, communism, conspiracy, criticism, critique, David Threlfall, economics, egalitarian, egalitarianism, fascism, film, Hitler, Jude Law, Kevin MacDonald, Killing Them Softly, microcosm, movies, politics, recession, review, Russia, Russians, sailor, Scoot McNairy, seaman, socialism, Soviet Union, Stalin, sub, submarine, submariner, subtext, suspense, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Third Reich, Thriller, treasure, USSR
Ready 2 Die ***1/2
After robbing a Federal Reserve Bank branch and leading the LAPD on a televised freeway chase (“like O.J., Holmes”), four luckless desperadoes find themselves stranded without a car in East L.A., pursued both by the authorities and – after a “ghetto APB” and word of their loot gets out – their greedy fellow gangstas as well.
Writer-director John Azpilicueta stars as the bereaved Lucky, dismissed from a SEALs training camp for “emotional problems”; Jacob Martinez is Smiley, a chubby old thug who tried in vain to go straight, but whose financial troubles have thrust him back into a life of crime; and Pablo Hernandez is Psycho, a hitman who pretty much lives up to his name. The most interesting character, dishonorably discharged Ranger and Coolio haircut hood rat Sniper, is played by Bless May, who unfortunately receives the least screen time of the foursome.
Azpilicueta’s film, typical for an Asylum release, is shoddy and rough-hewn, with crap special effects, some substandard acting, too little coverage for action scenes, and overreliance on quick cuts and shaky-cam cinematography. A series of black-and-white flashbacks, intended to humanize the leads, only succeeds in stalling the action; but sleazebags attracted to a movie as underachievingly titled as Ready 2 Die will no doubt be entertained by its ready abundance of murder, profanity, rape, and pandemic nastiness.
3.5 out of 5 stars. Ideological Content Analysis indicates that Ready 2 Die is:
7. Anti-Christian. More than one thug is adorned with a cross, either as a necklace or a tacky tattoo.
6. Anti-marriage. A mulatto wife is a lazy, unfaithful freeloader.
5. Miscegenation-ambivalent. The aforementioned wife is, however, depicted as quite the sexual trophy and gets the hiding heroes excited as they voyeuristically enjoy the sight of her in the act of adultery.
4. Anti-bankster. The fact that the crooks attack a Federal Reserve bank makes them, if not quite sympathetic, at least not as dastardly as if they had robbed a small business like a liquor store. Ready 2 Die conveys a generalized anger at the economic plight of the country; and, without articulating any particular argument, the movie seems to be suggesting blame by flashing the Federal Reserve Bank sign during the opening robbery. Sniper is unemployed, and the fact that Smiley is behind on his house payments reminds viewers of banks’ predatory lending tactics.
3. Anti-police. Ready 2 Die evinces either indifference toward the “fucking po-po” or, if anything, actual hostility, casting them as the pesky antagonists who pursue the central characters.
2. Anti-war. Sniper expresses the nihilism of war brought home when he says that shooting at police cars and helicopters is “just like Fallujah, baby – just different motherfuckers.”
1. Racist! Ready 2 Die demonstrates as well as a movie could why even minorities have reason to fear the eventuality of their neighborhoods going majority non-white. Gangs, drugs, and scary tattoos are the norm, with mothers living in fear that their children will be murdered not by white supremacist pigs, but by members of their own wretched raza. Furthermore, blacks appear in an almost uniformly unfavorable light in the film. Sniper is one of the movie’s most coldblooded killers. “Fuck that funny-lookin’ bitch,” he excuses himself for shooting a bank teller. “She was lookin’ at me all crazy and shit.” He robs and kills because he would rather do this than “flip some burgers”. A black cop lounges around his home milking “disability”, while his misbehaving son ludicrously claims to have been suspended from school just for being black.
Tags action movies, anti-bankster, anti-Christian, anti-marriage, anti-police, antiwar, bad acting, banking, bankster, black people, Bless May, California, car chase, Christianity, Coolio, crime, demographic decline, East L.A., economy, Fallujah, Federal Reserve, gangsta, gangster, getaway, ghetto, helicopter, hitman, independent film, Iraq, Jacob Martinez, John Azpilicueta, LAPD, Los Angeles, low budget, Mestizos, Mexicans, Mexploitation, miscegenation, miscegenation-ambivalent, movies, murder, Navy SEALs, O.J. Simpson, Pablo Hernandez, racism, racist, Rangers, rape, recession, robbery, sex scene, sleaze, sniper, tattoo, The Asylum, thug, unemployment, War on Terror
Out of the Furnace *****
April 28, 2014 //
Christian Bale racks up another career highlight performance as Russell Baze, a good but deeply flawed man at the end of his tether in Out of the Furnace, a strong, deeply American film from writer-director-to-watch Scott Cooper. Baze is an endearing dead-end ex-con and mill worker who, in a relationship reminiscent of that between Keitel and DeNiro in Mean Streets, attempts to look out for his war-damaged deadbeat brother Rodney (Casey Affleck). Rodney is in debt but uninterested in conventional employment, leading to his involving himself in the dangerous world of underground fighting.
Out of the Furnace stands as a stark statement that the American Dream is deceased. Its rust belt setting rings all too true, and a barroom television moment more subtle than a similar scene in 2012’s Killing Them Softly shows that Obama’s hope-and-change rhetoric has no reality for the typical working (or unemployed) stiff. Out of the Furnace is a film of its time and timely, its story enthralling, with each frame carrying fascination and a feeling of immediate importance.
Those who enjoy tense, earthy family dramas and character studies with gritty, realistic settings – movies like Sling Blade, Mud, or The Place Beyond the Pines – are certain to appreciate Out of the Furnace, which, in addition to the showcased character creation of Christian Bale, features sharp supporting performances from Forest Whitaker, Sam Shepard, Zoe Saldana, and Willem Dafoe. Deserving special recognition, furthermore, is Woody Harrelson, frightening light-years from Cheers here as hillbilly drug kingpin Harlan DeGroat. Harrelson’s hot dog moment in the opening scene sets the grotesque, tenebrous tone of the film and constitutes the most shocking piece of fast food humiliation since the fried chicken scene in 2011’s Killer Joe.
5 stars. Highest recommendation.
Ideological Content Analysis indicates that Out of the Furnace is:
7. Diversity-skeptical. In one of his underground fights, Rodney is pitted against a black thug who taunts him, calling him “white boy” and mocking his military service. Pleasantly, Rodney makes a comeback and gives this rascal a vicious and racially charged beatdown.
6. Antiwar. Rodney comes back from Iraq as an angry and alienated man.
5. Protectionist. The mill is scheduled to be shut down, with American jobs exported to China.
4. Pro-miscegenation. Notwithstanding no. 7, Russell is in love with brown beauty Lena (Zoe Saldana), but loses her after his stint in the pen.
3. Anti-drug. Drunk driving lands Russell in prison. Harder stuff turns Harlan DeGroat into a maniac.
2. Anti-redneck. Harlan DeGroat is the scariest white trash bad guy since Deer Crossing‘s Lukas Walton.
1. Pro-family. Russell Baze is driven by his devotion to his family, caring as best he can for his sick father and brother while both are still alive, and diligently avenging them after they are gone.
Tags American decline, American dream, anti-drug, anti-redneck, antiwar, Barack Obama, bare knuckle fighting, Casey Affleck, Cheers, China, Christian Bale, cinema, criticism, Deer Crossing, disillusionment, diversity, diversity-skeptical, drive-in, drive-in movies, drug dealer, drunk driving, employment, ex-con, fast food, film, Forest Whitaker, great recession, Harvey Keitel, hillbilly, hot dog, humiliation, Iraq, Killer Joe, Killing Them Softly, Mean Streets, mill, movies, Mud, offshoring, Out of the Furnace, Pennsylvania, police, prison, pro-family, pro-miscegenation, protectionism, protectionist, race relations, race war, racial tension, recession, redneck, review, Robert DeNiro, rural, rust belt, rustic, Sam Shepard, Sling Blade, The Place Beyond the Pines, underground fighting, unemployment, veteran, white trash, Willem Dafoe, Woody Harrelson, Zoe Saldana
American Hustle ***
April 8, 2014 //
To be perfectly honest, this reviewer was bored for lengthy portions of American Hustle, David O. Russell’s unaccountably lauded opus about the Abscam scandal. Like too many period pieces set in fashion-distinctive epochs, Hustle evinces an overly polished and inorganic quality, more concerned with fussing about its garish clothing, bizarre hairstyles, and flaunting an unwarranted sense of its own super-coolness than with the development of characters deserving of the audience’s interest. As with the less inspired moments in Scorsese’s oeuvre, American Hustle is too content to slide by on the likability of its vintage pop soundtrack and slick but empty visual flair, with – of course! – the obligatory trip to a decadent discotheque.
The performances of Bale, Cooper, and others are fine, but hardly career highlights. Russell’s unconvincing dialogue, co-credited to Eric Warren Singer, bears much of the blame for the film’s lifelessness. Actors can hardly be blamed for failing to salvage compelling drama out of the likes of the following yawners: “This is bullshit. We are bullshit. You were bullshit. You were bullshit.” While no character in American Hustle is particularly sympathetic, there are some affecting moments toward the end of the film when flimflam man Irving Rosenfeld (Bale) begins to feel guilty about misleading and ruining a mark he has come to view as his friend. This in no way justifies a run time in excess of two hours, however – leaving the viewer to wonder whether the tale of this potbellied, philandering Jew con artist with a heart of gold needed to be told at all.
ICA’s advice: For a 70s con game period piece, see Richard Gere in The Hoax instead.
3 out of 5 stars. Ideological Content Analysis indicates that American Hustle is:
8. Pro-drug. Nothing sells marijuana like the sight of a beautiful temptress (Amy Adams) smoking a joint.
7. Anti-American. Check the title.
6. Multiculturalist. Mayor Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner) maintains friendly relations with the minority community and even adopts a black kid to show what a great guy he is.
5. Pro-gay, with one gratuitous lesbian kiss.
4. Pro-slut. Movie stars making out in a bathroom – how glamorous! Rosenfeld does “the right thing” by marrying single mother Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence).
3. Zionist, calling attention to the undying bogeyman of American politicians’ insidious willingness to sell out the country’s well-being to the Arabs. Dismissive reference is also made to (Israel-hating, Palestine-loving) “fuckin’ Jimmy Carter”.
2. Relativistic. “That’s the way the world works. Not black and white like you say. Extremely gray.”
1. Obamist. In union-friendly Carmine Polito, American Hustle portrays the corrupt but humble and likable politician as tragic hero, a man of the people, a caring, avuncular figure genuinely concerned with the welfare of his constituents, and who presides over a system of corruption only so as to create new jobs. “We dream and we build,” he says. Overly zealous investigators like DiMaso (Cooper) are ruining America, Rosenfeld charges, by exposing high misdeeds and so destroying the people’s faith in their leaders. So lay off the Solyndra, Benghazi, NSA, IRS, and other scandals, American Hustle cautions, lest the spiritually vulnerable masses lose their precious hope.
Tags 70s, Abscam, American Hustle, Amy Adams, anti-American, Arabs, Barack Obama, bathroom, Benghazi, Bradley Cooper, Christian Bale, cinema, con, con artist, con man, corruption, David O. Russell, decadence, degeneracy, depravity, disco, discotheque, employment, Eric Warren Singer, FBI, film, flimflam, gangster, great recession, homosexuality, IRS, Israel, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner, Jew, Jewish, Jewry, Jews, Jimmy Carter, mafia, Martin Scorsese, mayor, miscegenation, movies, multiculturalism, multiculturalist, New Jersey, NSA, Obamist, organized crime, Palestine, politician, politics, pro-drug, pro-gay, pro-slut, recession, relativism, relativist, review, Richard Gere, single mother, slut, Solyndra, sting, The Hoax, unemployment, unions, Zion, Zionism, Zionist
Assault on Wall Street ***1/2
Prolific writer-producer-director Uwe Boll, best known for notoriously reviled horror films like House of the Dead (2003) and Alone in the Dark (2005), now taps into understandable populist rage at the crony capitalist establishment with the depressing Assault on Wall Street. Powerfully built Dominic Purcell, something of a poor man’s Clive Owen, stars as down-on-his-luck security guard Jim Baxford, who, after losing his job and his wife (Erin Karpluk) following her protracted illness and financial anxiety suicide, decides to diversify his portfolio with a little vigilante vengeance directed at the seemingly untouchable high-rollers and bankster exploiters he holds collectively responsible for his personal tragedy.
Purcell is adequately tough and earnest, if not particularly interesting, in the lead; but it is in two key supporting roles that Assault on Wall Street shows true inspiration in casting. An aging John Heard is the perfect choice to play number one on Baxford’s hit list: selfish, nihilistic toxic investment CEO Jeremy Stancroft. Even greasier, however, in a role one wishes had been expanded, is uber-oily Eric Roberts as money-grubbing attorney Patterson. Roberts has aged, if not quite gracefully, then fascinatingly, with a uniquely silverfish-like screen presence that ideally lends itself to high villainy. Other familiar faces in the cast include Keith David, Edward Furlong, and Michael Pare as Baxford’s buddies Freddy, Sean, and Frank.
Assault on Wall Street is a decent rental, but may disappoint vigilante fans by spending too much time (nearly an hour) on the humiliating build-up and not enough on the retribution so temptingly advertised in the title. Consequently, it earns a modest 3.5 of 5 possible stars.
Ideological Content Analysis indicates that Assault on Wall Street is:
11. Pro-police. Cops are depicted as human types who share in the general plight and sympathize with Baxford’s mission.
10. Anti-slut. “I’m gonna get an STD from this sandwich,” Frank teases a waitress. Corporate bigwigs consort with whores.
9. Christ-ambivalent. While a preacher attempts consolation, mouthing, “God visits us with many mysteries in life,” Baxford rather takes to heart more militant Biblical passages such as, “He trains my hands for war” (cf. nos. 1 and 7)
8. Marriage-ambivalent. Baxford’s marriage is a devoted one and would, if not for her illness and his financial worries, be happy. Friend Frank’s wife, however, is a cheater.
7. Antiwar. Baxford is a veteran forgotten in his time of need by the country that used him. In reply to the idea that violence is not a solution, a caller to a radio program asks, “Isn’t violence the official solution in Iraq and Afghanistan?” (cf. nos. 1 and 9)
6. Postracial, with blacks and whites interacting as friends irrespective of racial differences. And to demonstrate that his is an equal opportunity beef, Baxford even liquidates a few blacks along with the many white guys in suits and ties.
5. Drug-ambivalent. Baxford smokes philosophically and his friends are enthusiastic drinkers. “Let’s go get some alcohol, make the pain go away.” Baxford, in the wake of his personal ruin, is invited to “watch the game and do some serious drinkin'” for therapeutic purposes. But a man is claimed in a news report to have died in a “drunken accident”.
4. Anti-state. The cronyist statist quo, or the “plutocratic capturing of American politics”, transcends Republican vs. Democrat squabbles, with Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Chris Dodd, and Alan Greenspan getting name-dropped as culpable players. At a lower level of weaselliness, Assistant D.A. Marwood (Barclay Hope) insensitively brushes off Baxford’s concerns. That Baxford is able to purchase military wares from a black market gun dealer (Clint Howard) militates against the notion that government-mandated gun control is effective or enforceable. Betraying the movie’s mixed messages about the place of government, however, is the fact that deregulation is also blamed for the ’08 collapse.
3. Anti-corporate. “The real fuckin’ criminals – they’re downtown [i.e., on Wall Street].” Goldman Sachs, MF Global, Cerberus Capital, JP Morgan, and Lehman Brothers are among the outfits that receive negative product placement.
2. Anti-capitalistic. “System’s rigged, motherfucker.” Told “Fuck you,” a banker calmly replies, “That’s a fair response, I suppose.” Free market talk conceals an “anything goes mentality”. “The rich still get richer and the poor get poorer.” Stancroft justifies his misdeeds with a social Darwinist outlook. “That’s the free trade system, my friend,” he says. “That’s capitalism.” “There’s not a person on this earth who’s worth over a hundred million dollars that came by that money honestly.” The film also evinces a naive sympathy for the homeless, juxtaposing their plight with the ease of the leisure class.
1. Pro-vigilante. Baxford is his own law, but also a people’s fury, and wears an Anonymous-reminiscent white mask for the final killing spree.
Tags 2008 collapse, Afghanistan, Alan Greenspan, Alone in the Dark, anarchist, Anonymous, anti-capitalist, anti-capitalistic, anti-corporate, anti-corporatism, anti-slut, anti-state, antiwar, armored truck, Assault on Wall Street, attorney, bailouts, banker, bankster, Barclay Hope, Bible, Bill Clinton, capitalism, CEO, Cerberus Capital, Chris Dodd, Christ-ambivalent, Christianity, cinema, class warfare, class-conscious, Clint Howard, Clive Owen, corporatism, crony capitalism, debt, Democratic Party, Democrats, deregulation, Dominic Purcell, drug-ambivalent, economic collapse, economic meltdown, Edward Furlong, Eric Roberts, Erin Karpluk, Federal Reserve, film, George W. Bush, God, Goldman Sachs, health care, House of the Dead, illness, investment, Iraq, John Heard, JP Morgan, Keith David, lawyer, Lehman Brothers, marriage, marriage-ambivalent, mask, masked killer, melodrama, MF Global, Michael Pare, mortgage, movies, mutual fund, Phase 4 Films, police, postracial, private equity, pro-police, pro-vigilante, race relations, recession, Republican Party, Republicans, revenge, review, security guard, social Darwinism, stockbroker, stocks, suicide, TARP, terminal illness, Thriller, toxic assets, trader, Uwe Boll, veteran, vigilante
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Veterinary x 0 SearchTerm
Naples, FL x 0 Location
14 Veterinary jobs in Naples, FL Sort by: Relevance | Date
01/17/2020 16:25:39 190963122 1 Priority_Search,ExtendedNetworkExposure,PerformanceBoost,PerformanceBoost3x 0 0 3403 1 0 Veterinary Veterinary - General Veterinary Tech & Receptionist Veterinary Tech & Receptionist Full Time South Trail Animal Hosp | Fort Myers, FL NEW Veterinary Tech and Veterinary Receptionist South Trail Animal Hospital is proud to serve the Fort Myers, FL area for everything pet related. Our animal h... NEW Do you match?
01/17/2020 11:28:11 190875885 2 0 0 3875 1 1 Veterinary Veterinary - General Doctor of Veterinary Medicine - Sign-on/Relocation up to $40K! Doctor of Veterinary Medicine - Sign-on/Relocation up to $40K! Full Time Banfield Pet Hospital | Estero, FL NEW Description: Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Banfield aspires to be a practice where as a team, we make a positive impact on pet health care in hospitals, co... NEW Do you match?
01/16/2020 16:44:54 190386967 3 1 0 3875 1 1 Veterinary Veterinary - General Doctor of Veterinay Medicine (DVM) - Up to $40k Sign-On Relocation Available until 10/01/19 Doctor of Veterinay Medicine (DVM) - Up to $40k Sign-On Relocation Available until 10/01/19 Full Time Banfield Pet Hospital | Naples, FL NEW Description: Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Banfield aspires to be a practice where as a team, we make a positive impact on pet health care in hospitals, co... NEW Do you match?
01/16/2020 16:53:56 190391089 4 1 0 3875 1 1 Veterinary Veterinary - General Doctor of Veterinary Medicine - Sign-on/Relocation up to $40,000! Doctor of Veterinary Medicine - Sign-on/Relocation up to $40,000! Full Time Banfield Pet Hospital | Fort Myers, FL NEW Description: Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Banfield aspires to be a practice where as a team, we make a positive impact on pet health care in hospitals, co... NEW Do you match?
01/13/2020 13:27:17 188596192 5 4 0 3241 1 1 Veterinary Veterinary - General Overnight Emergency Veterinarian Overnight Emergency Veterinarian Full Time ANIMAL ER OF SW FLORIDA | Cape Coral, FL 5 DAYS AGO Job Description Are you tired of practicing corporate medicine? Do you want to manage your cases with the skill that your years of training and experience ... 5 DAYS AGO Do you match?
01/10/2020 23:43:38 187354147 6 7 0 3241 1 1 Veterinary Veterinary - General Veterinary Technician Veterinary Technician Full Time Ellie Vet LLC | Cape Coral, FL 8 DAYS AGO Job DescriptionJob SummaryAssists doctors and provides routine care, and administers medication, under the supervision of the veterinarian. General Account... 8 DAYS AGO Do you match?
01/15/2020 10:27:11 189610865 7 2 0 3537 1 1 Veterinary Veterinary - General Veterinary Technician - Experienced Veterinary Technician - Experienced Full Time Vitality Veterinary | Bonita Springs, FL 3 DAYS AGO Job DescriptionBonita Veterinary HospitalVeterinary Technician - Experienced(an awesome companion-animal general practice!)LocationsBonita Springs, FL 3413... 3 DAYS AGO Do you match?
01/17/2020 22:28:10 191087819 8 0 0 3825 1 1 Veterinary Veterinary - General Doctor of Veterinay Medicine (DVM) - Up to $40k Sign-On Relocation Available until 10/01/19. Doctor of Veterinay Medicine (DVM) - Up to $40k Sign-On Relocation Available until 10/01/19. Full Time Banfield Pet Hospital | Naples, FL NEW Description:. Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. Banfield aspires to be a practice where as a team, we make a positive impact on pet health care in hospitals, ... NEW Do you match?
01/17/2020 21:45:00 191073486 9 0 0 3825 1 1 Veterinary Veterinary - General Doctor of Veterinay Medicine (DVM) - Up to $40k Sign-On Relocation Available until 10/01/19 Doctor of Veterinay Medicine (DVM) - Up to $40k Sign-On Relocation Available until 10/01/19 Full Time Banfield Pet Hospital | Naples, FL NEW Description:Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Banfield aspires to be a practice where as a team, we make a positive impact on pet health care in hospitals, com... NEW Do you match?
01/17/2020 22:03:12 191079948 10 0 0 3825 1 1 Veterinary Veterinary - General Associate Veterinarian Associate Veterinarian Full Time Your Pets Vets | Fort Myers, FL NEW Your Pets Vets is looking for a full time associate veterinarian (4x10hr/day). Our technologically advanced practice has lots of cool toys to make practici... NEW Do you match?
01/17/2020 21:26:07 191067921 11 0 0 3825 1 1 Veterinary Veterinary - General Doctor of Veterinary Medicine - Sign-on/Relocation up to $40K!. Doctor of Veterinary Medicine - Sign-on/Relocation up to $40K!. Full Time Banfield Pet Hospital | Estero, FL NEW Description:. Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. Banfield aspires to be a practice where as a team, we make a positive impact on pet health care in hospitals, ... NEW Do you match?
01/17/2020 20:39:53 191052883 12 0 0 3825 1 1 Veterinary Veterinary - General Doctor of Veterinary Medicine - Sign-on/Relocation up to $40,000! Doctor of Veterinary Medicine - Sign-on/Relocation up to $40,000! Full Time Banfield Pet Hospital | Fort Myers, FL NEW Description:Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Banfield aspires to be a practice where as a team, we make a positive impact on pet health care in hospitals, com... NEW Do you match?
01/17/2020 13:21:23 190902205 13 0 0 3541 1 1 Veterinary Veterinary - General Veterinary Technician Veterinary Technician Full Time Southwest Florida Veterinary specialists | Bonita Springs, FL NEW Veterinary Technician Southwest Florida Veterinary Specialists is the leading provider of specialty veterinary care in Southwest Florida. Our hospital is g... NEW Do you match?
01/09/2020 05:12:55 186485941 14 8 0 3241 1 1 Veterinary Veterinary - General Veterinary Technician Veterinary Technician Full Time Southwest Florida Veterinary Specia | Bonita Springs, FL 9 DAYS AGO Job Description Veterinary Technician Southwest Florida Veterinary Specialists is the leading provider of specialty veterinary care in Southwest Florida. O... 9 DAYS AGO Do you match?
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JODY WHITESIDES
All posts published in January 2013
January 31, 2013 In Out And About Tagged as apogee bad cat quartet slate audio taylor guitars the NAMM experience the raven trem king wheel harp By Jody Whitesides
The NAMM Experience
You might be asking yourself, why the hell hasn’t Jody posted anything about the last four songs?!? It’s a very valid question and my response would be: The NAMM Experience.
In January of each year there’s a rather large convention that happens in Anaheim California (a majority of the time). That convention is known to the outside world as: NAMM. To us musicians it’s known as “The Giant Candy Store.” Meaning it’s like being a kid in the world’s largest candy store of musical gear. It’s a great place to geek out. If you’re into musical gear stuff that is. I am.
The other plus to NAMM is it’s a bit like a huge family reunion. Where many of us who are busy creating music often don’t get to see each other until NAMM. Yikes. My buddy Robert Navarro said in passing this year: “I know a lot of people. But Jody seems to know everyone.” It’s a bit of an overstatement. However it was funny to hear.
Let’s dive in to a little picture recount of some of it.
The pic is from a solo performance by a Doobie Brothers member doing great renditions of their songs in the Taylor Booth.
The show can’t be complete without posing with the BadCat freak of the year.
This is by far the greatest tremolo system ever invented for guitar. I’m not kidding – it’s perfect.
The mandatory badge shot…
For the inner child of mixing engineers everywhere: The Raven by Slate Audio. The coolest touchscreen mixing console.
Wanna know where audio recording is heading? To smaller devices. Namely iOS devices. Apogee is leading the charge with their mobile lines and the new king of that is: The Quartet.
The award for most unique instrument of the show is: The Wheel Harp. I can’t even explain it. But it’s very cool, with a very distinct sound.
Essentially we all hit it. The NAMM wall. Wherein you’re tired and somehow I managed to get a shot where there were relatively few people around. Feet hurt from being walked on for hours on end.
There is the little slice of what has kept me from getting to the rest of the songs. I will be diving right back in extremely soon after I finish up another interim song and a couple of things for some placements. Stay tuned.
Here’s my parting shot:
January 11, 2013 In Fit To Print In The Studio Tagged as chorus fourteenth song finalized is "things we left unsaid" guitar key lyrics rewrite semitone semitones snow sundance things we left unsaid By Jody Whitesides
Fourteenth Song Finalized Is "Things We Left Unsaid"
Gandolf the White has struck! Apparently the Weather Channel decided to start naming winter snow storms. The humor is, this one hasn’t been all that insane and yet it has a name, Gandolf. I didn’t even get to see the start of the snowing as I was holed up in the den working so I could write this: the fourteenth song finalized is “Things We Left Unsaid”. That’s right, another song into the fire from the frying pan.
This song is one of those songs that underwent a rather strong amount of changes, comparatively speaking. It got a major facelift on the lyrics so that the words were more focused. Especially the Verses. The tone of it changed from a protagonist and antagonist switch in the Verses to simply a one point of view – that really helped the focus. The Pre Chorus then got a rewrite to make that transition work going into the slightly tweaked Chorus. Mostly because the Chorus had to reflect the change coming from the verse. The other change in the Chorus came from a slight rewrite of the title. Coming from “Things Left Unsaid” going to “Things We Left Unsaid”.
Musically speaking, I decided to down-step the song a full two semitones. What brought this part of the rewrite? Well… The Verses stayed the same melodically. The Pre Chorus stayed nearly the same, there was a slight adjustment to the melody and rhythm based on the new words and wanted a better swing into the Chorus. The Chorus ended up getting an entire facelift melodically. The main reason for it was two fold. One, I wanted a way for it to stand out more from the Verses. The original version had some interesting lines but they didn’t stand too far apart from the Verses rhythmically. Now, the melody is fashioned to have a much much stronger hook. Not only rhythmically but also melodically. This is where the key change had to happen for the song. Where I took the Chorus melodically was becoming a tad to straining to sound powerful in a full voice fashion. Thus stepping the song down two semitones put it back into a range that gives the Chorus full power.
The added bonus of bringing the key down of the song is that now the guitar parts sound beefier! That helps the vibe of the groove too. I can’t explain why, but it feels way better now. Thus the fact that people liked it enough before to vote the song into the final round, now it’s become a real contender to make the final cut and be a bonafide hit.
I’m much happier with the overall state of the song. Arrangement-wise the song a way more traditional in it’s situation. However, I think once in the studio it will get a little extra window dressing. Though that comes down to how it’s reflecting once it’s finally re-recorded.
To close out for this update, I’d like to happily send you on a merry way – hopefully you’ll be one of the people to enjoy the snow, especially if you’re headed to Sundance! Until the next update (coming soon) be in-the-know that the fourteenth song to get finalized is “Things We Left Unsaid”.
January 9, 2013 In Fit To Print In The Studio Tagged as jupiter bowl mark luna off-season park city ski resort summer thirteenth song finalized is "jupiter bowl" By Jody Whitesides
Thirteenth Song Finalized Is "Jupiter Bowl"
Cue the twilight zone theme… Cause if you’re superstitious, then today is the kind of announcement you might not want to hear. However, I am not superstitious. Thus I’m A. O.K. with writing that the thirteenth song finalized is “Jupiter Bowl”.
The song is my first co-write with a musician by the name of Mark Luna. An absolutely fantastic singer and amazing writer. When we first met and chatted on the phone Mark wanted to hear some of my music before agreeing to pen a song with me. After hearing some of my original work his response was: “We could do some serious musical damage together.” That phrase sticks with me. What a compliment coming from such a talent like him.
Jupiter Bowl is not about the planet. Nor is it about a bowling alley. No. It’s about the place located atop the Park City Ski Resort.
The goal in writing the song was to capture the vibe of Jupiter in the summer. The off-season. What strikes me about this song is that Mark and I discussed every detail in the lyrics, the tempo, and the concept of the arrangement. Way more so than any other co-write I’ve ever done. It was magical. Much like my early memories of hiking up to Jupiter Bowl.
For the most part I’m sticking pretty strong to the original demo version we did. It’s so powerful despite it’s lazy acoustic nature. Then again, isn’t that what nature is? Powerful with such beauty. Again it’s another song that I can’t wait to fully realize in the studio with a group of players. Anticipation is the word!
One funny thing I can think of right now, is there there is going to be that “What the hell did he sing?” type of thing that will happen with this song. Much Like “Blinded By The Light” where people think it’s saying wrapped up like a douche, when it’s actually deuce. I know this because a couple of peeps have already said it. While I understand where they’re coming from – I do believe it’s going to be alright and I’m going to let it slide. Create the controversy!
Rounding out the beginning of the teens is the thirteenth song finalized, “Jupiter Bowl”. Until tomorrow or the next day – Stay tuned.
January 8, 2013 In Fit To Print In The Studio Tagged as arrangement attitude ears sketches tude twelfth song finalized is "vaporize your heart" vaporize your heart By Jody Whitesides
Twelfth Song Finalized Is "Vaporize Your Heart"
Yesterday. Monday. Odd day. Good day. Full day. Was the day where I got some more time in on this impending release… The short announcement is that the twelfth song finalized is “Vaporize Your Heart”.
One would love to envision that musicians/rockstars sit around all day long lollygaggin until they get to making some sort of brilliant music. Not this one. After a hearty workout, it was on the phone making calls for meetings with networks. The alternate ‘N’ word. Then I spent several hours taking my dog to the vet to get his shots updated. Glamorous shit right there!
Once I was back from the vet I beelined for the studio to get to work on tweaking the arrangement of this song. Make some serious structural changes that give the song a bit more drive. Not only more drive but also more ebb and flow too. It had a nice swing to it before. Nice don’t cut it. Now it pumps my blood and gets me moving. Which is what it was supposed to do before and it did. Only it’s got ‘Tude now!
It will be exciting to see what the players bring to it in the studio based off my fleshed out sketches of the music. I can’t wait. The anticipation on it has me feeling some tension with how close all the songs are to being totally ready and with how much they’re really nailing emotions, vibes and ‘tudes.
Six more songs are lined up to get some more tweaks. But for those in the know right now (today) you know that the twelfth song that’s finalized is “Vaporize Your Heart”. Be aware that you’re ears are gonna love it!
January 6, 2013 In Fit To Print In The Studio Tagged as eleventh song finalized is "stand up" music noise political rap rapper stand up U.S. verse By Jody Whitesides
Eleventh Song Finalized Is "Stand Up"
I would have figured that this post should have been posted yesterday. However I ran into a little issue of having eaten something that didn’t agree with me a couple nights ago. Nothing like getting incapacitated after dining at a local eatery. Yuck. Thus I had to take Friday off and recover. I was back in shape on Saturday and was able to smash out another tune’s tweaks. Which leads me to write that the eleventh song finalized is “Stand Up”.
Song that had a couple of lyrical issues in that it was attempting to cover too much ground. Now it’s much more focused on one aspect and has been honed in on a subject that I think a lot of us can all relate to. Doesn’t matter what side of the political fence you’re on, I still think it will resonate with at least 99% of the world. Especially the U.S.
Now mind you, in being ill I couldn’t sit idly by – so I started a crazy project of tagging all of my music in my iTunes library as well as adding all the lyrics to every song. Well, to the point of whether the two apps I’ve procured to help with the procedure. Thus, I’ve added an additional thing to my load that could take at least a month when done in my spare time. Yikes. Why? Why did I do that? One, I wanted to really go through my library. Two, since starting it on a day I was under the weather, I’ve noticed that it’s akin to pouring through liner notes and covers to really get at the heart of all this music – but in a digital sense. I’m re-enjoying some music that I haven’t heard in quite a while. It’s a good diversion.
Ok, back to the song…
I’ve added a couple of additional elements to the first verse. I also added some additional noises to the chorus to help flesh it out with a little more kick.
The one real experimental area of the song is going to be in the bridge where I’ve decided, that much like another song, this will gain some interesting twists enlisting a rapper to rattle off the words I’ve come up with. That makes two or three songs now where I’ve going to cross that hip/hop rap/rock type of hybrid line – hmmm… Weird.
This one is going to have a bit of bite to it when it gets recorded live in the studio. I really think it’s got some great legs to whip up some anthemic shouts in a stadium. Which means that people will enjoy the eleventh song known as “Stand Up”. Easy to follow. Easy to shout.
January 4, 2013 In Fit To Print In The Studio Tagged as it burns lyrics pop rock song tenth song finalized is "it burns" By Jody Whitesides
Tenth Song Finalized Is "It Burns"
On a roll at this point. Yesterday marked a moment where I had a chat with a co-writer about a track. We made some additional tweaks to our song. After that writing and tweaking session it was time for me to put the axe down on yet another one of mine. This has me saying the tenth song finalized is “It Burns”.
This song is a bit of an exploration into a very quirky area of Pop Rock for me. The song structure is vastly different at the end from pretty much every song I’ve written. It doesn’t really end on the chorus, but it’s still got a hook. I did end up taking out one part of the song as it wasn’t propelling it along like it should have. Removing the part helped keep it moving along.
There were some minor tweaks to the lyrics which I also re-sang today as well. Made some additional notes for the studio when it goes for final recording.
Get the forks out because it’s done for now. Song number ten finalized is “It Burns”. More than halfway home. Soon. Very very soon.
January 3, 2013 In Fit To Print In The Studio Tagged as lyrics ninth song finalized is "touch" radio rap rapper song touch vocals By Jody Whitesides
Ninth Song Finalized Is "Touch"
Getting the new year off to a productive start. Day one had me making some re-records of vocals from songs already finalized. But yesterday found me getting yet another song’s vocals re-recorded as well. After that recording my ninth song finalized is “Touch”.
I got some additional vocals layered in on it. More for the addition of a couple of female vocalists to do some backgrounds to add spice. Once I hit that, I ended up scrapping the original bridge lyrics. In their place is a large flow of words that require bringing in a rapper to spit it out. The bridge is now way more over the top, blunt, rhythmic, and slammin. Got me saying to myself – Fuck Yeah!
No doubt this is going to hit the charts when it’s released as a single. I’m confident of that.
Another thing that I’m confident on it is, I’ll have to mix a radio-friendly version or bleep some of the bridge vocals. Not the first time I’ve had a song that would require bleeping, but it is the first time on a hit calibre one. Let’s see if I’m right this time.
I’ll be back at it later today getting the next track pre-flight ready for hitting the studio. New fire in the sails for this new year has me feeling gung-ho, ready let’s go! With that, I’ve got my ninth song finalized and it’s called “Touch”.
January 1, 2013 In Fit To Print Tagged as happy new year music NAMM release songs welcome 2013 happy new year By Jody Whitesides
Welcome 2013 Happy New Year
Ah what a year it’s been. Say goodbye to 2012. A year of interesting change. Musically, politically, and so much more. Help me in saying welcome 2013 Happy New Year!
For me, I’m knee deep in finishing preproduction on a a slew of songs. I’m currently about midway through. My first couple of weeks will be pushing those gears to get them all done before running around LA coming mid month. Got meetings coming up with some of the networks and attending the infamous NAMM show.
In the past 24 hours I finally got a couple of the lyrics changes recorded on a few of the finalized songs. That’s a great way to finish out the year!
Next stop this year: new music. Plus another idea I’ve been kickin around is finally going to start getting of the ground. To the outside ear it’s huge. In my mind – it’s the way this event should be done. Stay tuned to find out what it might be.
In the meantime, I hope you’ve enjoyed your evening’s festivities in a wild fashion without causing injury. Be well. Love to see more of you in 2013, Happy New Year!
Kickoff 2020
Billie Eilish Didn’t Know Who Van Halen Is
Little Step Back Big Leap Forward
Try It One More Time
Creative Time Cut
© 2020 Too Much Music
There's more to life than just traffic jams
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ENTREPRENEURSHIP FACILITATORS TO HELP OLDER AUSTRALIANS IN RICHMOND WORK FOR THEMSELVES
Michaelia Cash
Minister for Jobs and Innovation
Tweed Heads and Ballina locations
The Australian Government’s 2018–19 Budget includes the More Choices for a Longer Life
package, which invests in a range of jobs and skills measures, including help for older
Australians to explore self-employment.
The $189.7 million package includes $17.7 million for an expansion of the Entrepreneurship
Facilitators program to 20 additional locations to promote self-employment among older
Facilitators will offer mentoring and business support, engage with relevant community
organisations to increase awareness of the opportunities available through self-employment
and refer participants to the most appropriate assistance available in the region, including to
the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme.
Work starts on replacing Bangalow bridges
Michael McCormack
Minister for Infrastructure and Transport
Melinda Pavey
NSW Minister for Roads,Maritime and Freight
Parliamentary Secretary for Renewable Energy and Northern NSW
Simon Richardson
Mayor-Byron Shire Council
Works have started on replacing five old bridges near Bangalow in the Byron Shire.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Michael McCormack said Bangalow residents would be able to enjoy better, safer and more reliable road access as a result.
“These new bridges will ensure more efficient freight and traffic movement, which will in turn improve productivity for nearby agricultural industries including the Booyong meat processing plant, macadamia, beef and dairy farms,” Mr McCormack said.
A STRONGER ECONOMY, MORE JOBS AND TAX RELIEF, Eden Monaro
More than 63,000 taxpayers in Eden-Monaro will benefit from the low and middle income tax relief announced in the Federal Budget.
The Nationals Duty Senator for Eden-Monaro John Williams said a hairdresser on $50,000 will have an extra $440 in their pocket from the Budget year onwards, with an extra $3,740 in their pocket over the first seven years of the tax plan.
Senator Williams said a shop assistant on $45,000 will have an extra $440 in their pocket in the first year with an extra $3,380 in their pocket over the first seven years.
He said 5,038 families in the electorate will be better off when the new child care system comes into place in July, and the extension for a further twelve months of the popular instant asset write-off for small businesses with turnover of up to $10 million will
build on the more than 1,000 that have already taken advantage of the initiative in the electorate.
A STRONGER ECONOMY, MORE JOBS AND TAX RELIEF
Almost 64,000 taxpayers in Richmond will benefit from the low and middle income tax relief next financial year following the handing down of the Federal Budget.
The Nationals Duty Senator for Richmond John Williams said a shop assistant working in a Richmond business on $45,000 a year will have an extra $440 in their pocket from the Budget year onwards, with an extra $3,740 in their pocket over the first seven years of the tax plan.
He said a workshop manager in Tweed Heads, Murwillumbah, Ballina, Byron Bay or anywhere in Richmond who is on $88,000 will have an extra $575 to spend from the Budget year onwards, with an extra $4,055 in their pocket over the first seven years of the tax plan.
Senator Williams said when the new child care reforms commence on the 2nd of July, 5,833 local families will be the beneficiaries.
Kingscliff Foreshore upgrade turns tide on erosion
John McVeigh
Minister for Regional Development, Territories and Local Government
Senator for NSW
Katie Milne
Mayor of Tweed Shire Council
Permanent seawall erected, Beach Holiday Park and Central Park redeveloped
Seawall will reduce impact and cost of tidal erosion
Coalition Government invested over $9.8 million in the project
Green light for Cessnock Road project planning
NSW Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight
17 million project to improve flood immunity at Testers Hollow
The design and environmental assessment contract has been awarded
Planning stage of works expected to be completed by mid-2019
Motorists will soon benefit from an upgraded Cessnock Road at Testers Hollow following the award of the contract for the design and environmental assessment of the project.
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Efficacy of deferred dosing of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in autologous hematopoietic transplantation for multiple myeloma
J. E. Cox, S. Campos, J. Wu, R. May, Hao Liu, C. A. Ramos, G. Carrum, H. E. Heslop, M. K. Brenner, R. T. Kamble
Routine administration of G-CSF following autologous hematopoietic SCT (ASCT) expedites ANC recovery and reduces hospitalization by 1-2 days; it has no impact on febrile neutropenia, infections, morbidity, mortality, event-free survival or OS. To determine whether delayed G-CSF dosage could result in equivalent ANC recovery and thereby improve cost effectiveness, we deferred the administration of G-CSF until WBC recovery had begun. A total of 117 patients with multiple myeloma received ASCT from January 2005 to September 2012. Of these, 52 were in the conventional dosing group (CGD) and received G-CSF from Day +7 for a median of five doses. In the deferred dosing group (DGD), 65 patients received G-CSF from median day 14 post transplant for a median of zero doses. There was no difference between groups in the incidence or duration of febrile neutropenia, duration of ≥grade III mucositis, weight gain, rash, engraftment syndrome or early death (100 days). The DGD group had a significantly longer time to neutrophil engraftment than the CGD group (15 days vs 12 days; P<0.0001), a longer period of severe neutropenia (<100/μL; 8 days vs 6 days; P<0.0001), longer treatment with intravenous antibiotics (7 days vs 5 days; P=0.016) and longer hospital stay (19 days vs 17 days; P=<0.0001). Although the cost of G-CSF was lower in the DGD group (mean 308 vs 2467), the additional hospitalization raised the median total cost of ASCT in this group by 17%. There was, however, no adverse effect of deferred dosing on the rate of febrile neuropenic episodes or Day 100 survival, so that deferred dosing of G-CSF may be suitable for patients receiving ASCT as outpatients, for whom longer hospital stay would not be an offsetting cost.
https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2013.149
Autologous Transplantation
Exanthema
Disease-Free Survival
Cox, J. E., Campos, S., Wu, J., May, R., Liu, H., Ramos, C. A., ... Kamble, R. T. (2014). Efficacy of deferred dosing of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in autologous hematopoietic transplantation for multiple myeloma. Bone Marrow Transplantation, 49(2), 219-222. https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2013.149
Efficacy of deferred dosing of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in autologous hematopoietic transplantation for multiple myeloma. / Cox, J. E.; Campos, S.; Wu, J.; May, R.; Liu, Hao; Ramos, C. A.; Carrum, G.; Heslop, H. E.; Brenner, M. K.; Kamble, R. T.
In: Bone Marrow Transplantation, Vol. 49, No. 2, 01.02.2014, p. 219-222.
Cox, JE, Campos, S, Wu, J, May, R, Liu, H, Ramos, CA, Carrum, G, Heslop, HE, Brenner, MK & Kamble, RT 2014, 'Efficacy of deferred dosing of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in autologous hematopoietic transplantation for multiple myeloma', Bone Marrow Transplantation, vol. 49, no. 2, pp. 219-222. https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2013.149
Cox JE, Campos S, Wu J, May R, Liu H, Ramos CA et al. Efficacy of deferred dosing of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in autologous hematopoietic transplantation for multiple myeloma. Bone Marrow Transplantation. 2014 Feb 1;49(2):219-222. https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2013.149
Cox, J. E. ; Campos, S. ; Wu, J. ; May, R. ; Liu, Hao ; Ramos, C. A. ; Carrum, G. ; Heslop, H. E. ; Brenner, M. K. ; Kamble, R. T. / Efficacy of deferred dosing of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in autologous hematopoietic transplantation for multiple myeloma. In: Bone Marrow Transplantation. 2014 ; Vol. 49, No. 2. pp. 219-222.
@article{e3d2d77ba8a8419287f545a04fea8756,
title = "Efficacy of deferred dosing of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in autologous hematopoietic transplantation for multiple myeloma",
abstract = "Routine administration of G-CSF following autologous hematopoietic SCT (ASCT) expedites ANC recovery and reduces hospitalization by 1-2 days; it has no impact on febrile neutropenia, infections, morbidity, mortality, event-free survival or OS. To determine whether delayed G-CSF dosage could result in equivalent ANC recovery and thereby improve cost effectiveness, we deferred the administration of G-CSF until WBC recovery had begun. A total of 117 patients with multiple myeloma received ASCT from January 2005 to September 2012. Of these, 52 were in the conventional dosing group (CGD) and received G-CSF from Day +7 for a median of five doses. In the deferred dosing group (DGD), 65 patients received G-CSF from median day 14 post transplant for a median of zero doses. There was no difference between groups in the incidence or duration of febrile neutropenia, duration of ≥grade III mucositis, weight gain, rash, engraftment syndrome or early death (100 days). The DGD group had a significantly longer time to neutrophil engraftment than the CGD group (15 days vs 12 days; P<0.0001), a longer period of severe neutropenia (<100/μL; 8 days vs 6 days; P<0.0001), longer treatment with intravenous antibiotics (7 days vs 5 days; P=0.016) and longer hospital stay (19 days vs 17 days; P=<0.0001). Although the cost of G-CSF was lower in the DGD group (mean 308 vs 2467), the additional hospitalization raised the median total cost of ASCT in this group by 17{\%}. There was, however, no adverse effect of deferred dosing on the rate of febrile neuropenic episodes or Day 100 survival, so that deferred dosing of G-CSF may be suitable for patients receiving ASCT as outpatients, for whom longer hospital stay would not be an offsetting cost.",
keywords = "Autologous transplant, G-CSF, Multiple myeloma",
author = "Cox, {J. E.} and S. Campos and J. Wu and R. May and Hao Liu and Ramos, {C. A.} and G. Carrum and Heslop, {H. E.} and Brenner, {M. K.} and Kamble, {R. T.}",
doi = "10.1038/bmt.2013.149",
journal = "Bone Marrow Transplantation",
T1 - Efficacy of deferred dosing of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in autologous hematopoietic transplantation for multiple myeloma
AU - Cox, J. E.
AU - Campos, S.
AU - Wu, J.
AU - May, R.
AU - Liu, Hao
AU - Ramos, C. A.
AU - Carrum, G.
AU - Heslop, H. E.
AU - Brenner, M. K.
AU - Kamble, R. T.
N2 - Routine administration of G-CSF following autologous hematopoietic SCT (ASCT) expedites ANC recovery and reduces hospitalization by 1-2 days; it has no impact on febrile neutropenia, infections, morbidity, mortality, event-free survival or OS. To determine whether delayed G-CSF dosage could result in equivalent ANC recovery and thereby improve cost effectiveness, we deferred the administration of G-CSF until WBC recovery had begun. A total of 117 patients with multiple myeloma received ASCT from January 2005 to September 2012. Of these, 52 were in the conventional dosing group (CGD) and received G-CSF from Day +7 for a median of five doses. In the deferred dosing group (DGD), 65 patients received G-CSF from median day 14 post transplant for a median of zero doses. There was no difference between groups in the incidence or duration of febrile neutropenia, duration of ≥grade III mucositis, weight gain, rash, engraftment syndrome or early death (100 days). The DGD group had a significantly longer time to neutrophil engraftment than the CGD group (15 days vs 12 days; P<0.0001), a longer period of severe neutropenia (<100/μL; 8 days vs 6 days; P<0.0001), longer treatment with intravenous antibiotics (7 days vs 5 days; P=0.016) and longer hospital stay (19 days vs 17 days; P=<0.0001). Although the cost of G-CSF was lower in the DGD group (mean 308 vs 2467), the additional hospitalization raised the median total cost of ASCT in this group by 17%. There was, however, no adverse effect of deferred dosing on the rate of febrile neuropenic episodes or Day 100 survival, so that deferred dosing of G-CSF may be suitable for patients receiving ASCT as outpatients, for whom longer hospital stay would not be an offsetting cost.
AB - Routine administration of G-CSF following autologous hematopoietic SCT (ASCT) expedites ANC recovery and reduces hospitalization by 1-2 days; it has no impact on febrile neutropenia, infections, morbidity, mortality, event-free survival or OS. To determine whether delayed G-CSF dosage could result in equivalent ANC recovery and thereby improve cost effectiveness, we deferred the administration of G-CSF until WBC recovery had begun. A total of 117 patients with multiple myeloma received ASCT from January 2005 to September 2012. Of these, 52 were in the conventional dosing group (CGD) and received G-CSF from Day +7 for a median of five doses. In the deferred dosing group (DGD), 65 patients received G-CSF from median day 14 post transplant for a median of zero doses. There was no difference between groups in the incidence or duration of febrile neutropenia, duration of ≥grade III mucositis, weight gain, rash, engraftment syndrome or early death (100 days). The DGD group had a significantly longer time to neutrophil engraftment than the CGD group (15 days vs 12 days; P<0.0001), a longer period of severe neutropenia (<100/μL; 8 days vs 6 days; P<0.0001), longer treatment with intravenous antibiotics (7 days vs 5 days; P=0.016) and longer hospital stay (19 days vs 17 days; P=<0.0001). Although the cost of G-CSF was lower in the DGD group (mean 308 vs 2467), the additional hospitalization raised the median total cost of ASCT in this group by 17%. There was, however, no adverse effect of deferred dosing on the rate of febrile neuropenic episodes or Day 100 survival, so that deferred dosing of G-CSF may be suitable for patients receiving ASCT as outpatients, for whom longer hospital stay would not be an offsetting cost.
KW - Autologous transplant
KW - G-CSF
KW - Multiple myeloma
U2 - 10.1038/bmt.2013.149
DO - 10.1038/bmt.2013.149
JO - Bone Marrow Transplantation
JF - Bone Marrow Transplantation
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You are here: Home Elections Updates |
If Election Commission decides on simultaneous polls, Telangana may prefer snap poll to Assembly
Category: Political News
Last Updated on Saturday, 07 July 2018 11:05
The term of Telangana Assembly will end on June 8, 2019. That means EC is empowered to hold polls to TS Assembly any time after Dec 8, 2018.
Download latest voter list Booth wise
If at all the Election Commission of India wants to hold polls to the Assemblies of the states, whose terms will be ending in the second half of 2018 or in the first half of 2019, simultaneously with Lok Sabha elections, Telangana too may duly witness “early” polls irrespective of the state government’s decision.
The reason for this opinion is that Section 14(2) of the Representation of People Act which empowers EC to hold elections to any State Assembly at any time earlier than six months prior to the expiry of the term of that particular House without its dissolution. Thus, EC can notify elections to the Lok Sabha as well as State Legislative Assemblies whose term will end between December this year and June next year.
Besides Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha and Mizoram are the States whose Assemblies’ term would end in this six-month period. The term of the present Lok Sabha will end on June 3, 2019. That means EC can hold LS polls any day after Dec 3, 2018. Thus, it can also hold elections to the Assemblies of these States, six months prior to the end of the normal term of the respective Houses anytime after Dec 3.
The term of Telangana Assembly will end on June 8, 2019. That means EC is empowered to hold polls to TS Assembly any time after Dec 8, 2018. If it decides to hold simultaneous polls after Dec 8, TS government will have to accept it.
If the TS government wants polls earlier than Dec 8, the State Cabinet will have to recommend to the Governor dissolution of the House.
Against this backdrop, according to TRS sources, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is of the view that a decision on going in for Assembly polls as per schedule or earlier should be taken depending on the “move” of the Prime Minister who is in favour of holding simultaneous elections in the country.
“If Lok Sabha and Assembly polls are held at a time, the CM thinks, the pro-Modi and anti-Modi waves, along with other national level issues might influence the State Assembly poll. KCR wants the electoral battle in the State to be focused on local issues, development programmes and welfare measures being implemented by his government. Hence his preference for separate State Assembly polls,” sources told Express.
Another argument doing the rounds in TRS circles is that Assembly polls will be held in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, where Congress is the main opposition party, in coming December/January.
Holding Assembly polls in TS much earlier might incapacitate the Congress and prevent it from marshalling all its men and resources for a poll fight in TS. Further, if TS Assembly elections are held much ahead of Lok Sabha polls, the TRS can win more LS seats as it can fully concentrate on parliamentary constituencies.
Thus, if the EC is for holding simultaneous polls, KCR might either opt for Assembly polls in October/November by dissolving the House after holding the monsoon session by end of July. If the EC is for holding LS polls in April/May 2019, then also, the CM might prefer the polls to be conducted much prior to the original schedule.
This might happen in December as the second round of Rythu Bandhu cheque distribution to farmers will be taken up in November (for Rabi season). Besides, Mission Bhagiratha, construction of double bedroom houses for the poor and other flagship schemes of his government are expected to be completed by then.
KCR not in favour of simultaneous polls
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is learnt to be of the view that if at all the Centre wants to go for simultaneous polls to Lok Sabha along with State Assemblies, whose terms will end between Dec 2018 and June 2019, the Telangana State Assembly should have polls prior to that. This is to avoid the Modi factor which may influence Telangana poll outcome. The Chief Minister wants Assembly polls to be fought on his government’s development and welfare schemes.
Source: Thenewindianexpress
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A. J. Pierzynski
Pierzynski with the Atlanta Braves
Atlanta Braves – No. 15
Born: (1976-12-30) December 30, 1976 (age 43)
Bridgehampton, New York
Bats: Left Throws: Right
September 9, 1998, for the Minnesota Twins
(through 2015 Season)
Runs batted in
Minnesota Twins (1998–2003)
San Francisco Giants (2004)
Chicago White Sox (2005–2012)
Texas Rangers (2013)
Boston Red Sox (2014)
St. Louis Cardinals (2014)
Atlanta Braves (2015–present)
2× All-Star (2002, 2006)
World Series champion (2005)
Silver Slugger Award (2012)
Anthony John "A. J." Pierzynski (/pɪərˈzɪnski/; born December 30, 1976) is an American professional baseball catcher for the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball (MLB). Pierzynski previously played with the Minnesota Twins (1998–2003), San Francisco Giants (2004), Chicago White Sox (2005–2012), Texas Rangers (2013), Boston Red Sox (2014) and St. Louis Cardinals (2014).
Pierzynski is known for having a strong and colorful personality, a fact he acknowledges. During his turn at the microphone following the White Sox victory parade in 2005, he thanked team personnel "for putting up with me." Former White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen summed up the situation as, "If you play against him, you hate him. If you play with him, you hate him a little less."[1] Guillen also acknowledged Pierzynski's value to the club, despite being relatively high-maintenance: "A.J.'s been great for me. He's worth the work because he always shows up for you." [2]
2 Professional career
2.1 Minnesota Twins
2.2 San Francisco Giants
2.3 Chicago White Sox
2.4 Texas Rangers
2.5 Boston Red Sox
2.6 St. Louis Cardinals
2.7 Atlanta Braves
3 Broadcasting career
4 Professional wrestling
Pierzynski was born on December 30, 1976, in Bridgehampton, New York.[3] He attended Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, Florida, where he won All-State honors in baseball. Outfielder/designated hitter Johnny Damon was one of Pierzynski's high school teammates.[4]
Pierzynski graduated from high school in 1994 and signed a letter of intent to play baseball at the University of Tennessee.[3] He was also selected by the Minnesota Twins in the third round (71st overall) of that year's MLB Draft and chose to sign with the ballclub on June 9.[5] He began his minor league career with the Gulf Coast League Twins and spent the next four years playing for the minor-league Elizabethton Twins, Fort Wayne Wizards, Fort Myers Miracle, New Britain Rock Cats, and Salt Lake Buzz.
After four years in the Twins organization, he was called up to the major league team, and made his debut on September 9, 1998, when he was 21 years old. He then spent the next five seasons, through the 2003 season, with Minnesota, though he was not a regular starter until 2001. From 1998-2000, he appeared in just 49 games for the Twins. In 2002 he made the American League All-Star Team as a reserve catcher. In the 2002 American League Division Series, Pierzynski hit an important home run in the ninth inning of the final game, in which the Twins clinched the series. In 2003, Pierzynski reached a .312 batting average, a career high that still stands.[6]
After the 2003 season, the Twins traded Pierzynski to the San Francisco Giants for Joe Nathan, Francisco Liriano, and Boof Bonser.[7] With the Giants he hit .272 with 11 home runs and 77 RBIs. He spent one season in San Francisco before being non-tendered.
Pierzynski was signed as a free agent by the Chicago White Sox on January 6, 2005.[5] When he signed with the White Sox, the San Francisco Chronicle ran a story claiming that the catcher had kneed Giants trainer Stan Conte in the groin during a spring training game in 2004.[8] Although the incident allegedly happened during the game, it went unreported for nearly a year in the press. Pierzynski has disputed the allegations publicly. "Don't you think if something like that happened, in spring training, you would have heard about it? I would have gotten in some sort of trouble?"[9] He would later go on to contribute to the White Sox's historic run of winning their first World Series since the 1917 contest.
Pierzynski during his tenure with the Chicago White Sox in 2009
In 2006, Pierzynski was named one of the five American League players in the All-Star Final Vote. Soon afterwards the Chicago White Sox organization began an election campaign using the slogan "Punch A.J." Pierzynski received 3.6 million votes, the most votes in the American League, subsequently sending him to his second All-Star appearance.[10] The "Punch A.J." campaign was inspired by an incident on May 20, 2006 between Pierzynski and Chicago Cubs catcher Michael Barrett. After a fly ball out, Pierzynski tagged up at third base and tried to score on the throw. After a collision at home, where Pierzynski knocked Barrett from his feet, Pierzynski slapped home plate with his hand. After getting up, Barrett grabbed Pierzynski and punched him in the face. A bench-clearing brawl ensued, and Pierzynski, Barrett, White Sox outfielder Brian Anderson and Cubs first baseman John Mabry were ejected.[11] When play finally resumed, outfielder Scott Podsednik promptly got on base, loading the bases up, and second baseman Tadahito Iguchi cleared them with a grand-slam. The White Sox won the game, 7–0.[12] Michael Barrett was suspended for 10 games, while Brian Anderson was suspended for five and A.J. Pierzynski was fined.[13]
Pierzynski caught Mark Buehrle's no-hitter on April 18, 2007,[14] but not his perfect game on July 23, 2009. He caught Philip Humber's perfect game on April 21, 2012 against the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field, as well.[15] On May 28, 2007, in a game versus the Minnesota Twins, Pierzynski twice ran down the first base line with his feet on the inside of the base, possibly nipping Twins first baseman Justin Morneau with his spikes. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was furious with the umpires, which resulted in a long tirade. However, he was not ejected. Pierzynski denied any attempt to step on Morneau.[16]
Pierzynski holds the AL record for consecutive errorless chances with 962, breaking Yogi Berra's previous record of 950, set in 1959.[17]
Pierzynski agreed to a two-year contract to remain with the White Sox after the 2010 season.[18][19]
On June 13, 2012, Pierzynski was rated the most hated MLB player.[20] In 2012, Pierzynski homered in five consecutive games, tying the franchise record and becoming the sixth player to achieve this feat. His teammate Paul Konerko was the most recent Sox player to achieve this feat in 2011.[21] Pierzynski won a Silver Slugger Award at catcher, his first. He hit .278/.326/.501 in 135 games, all but 5 behind the plate, with 27 HR and 77 RBI.
Following the 2012 season, Pierzynski agreed to a one-year contract for 2013 with the Texas Rangers worth $7.5 million.[22] He enjoyed a solid year for Texas, hitting .272 with 17 home runs and 70 RBIs in 503 at-bats.[23]
On December 3, 2013, Pierzynski agreed to a one-year contract with the Boston Red Sox, pending the completion of a physical examination.[24] The deal became official the next day.[25] On June 4, 2014, Pierzynski was ejected by umpire Quinn Wolcott after a leadoff walk by pitcher Brandon Workman because he asked Wolcott to "give me a new ball. One you can see."[26] This was Pierzynski's ninth career ejection.[27] Pierzynski's offense regressed with Boston as he hit .254/.286/.348 in 256 at-bats.[23]
On July 9, Pierzynski was designated for assignment and Christian Vazquez was promoted from AAA Pawtucket.[28] Several media reports have stated the fact that many in baseball consider Pierzynski to be a "club house cancer."[29] On July 16, the Red Sox officially released Pierzynski.[30]
Pierzynski during his tenure with the St. Louis Cardinals
On July 26, 2014, the St. Louis Cardinals signed Pierzynski to a major league deal.[31] Later that day, he debuted for St. Louis with a 3-for-4 outing and an RBI, helping to defeat the Cubs 6–3.[32] Former Boston teammate John Lackey soon arrived via trade, and Pierzynski caught him for the 19th time in 22 starts in 2014 when he debuted for the Cardinals on August 3. It was the pitcher's 150th career win.[33] Pierzynski's first home run with St. Louis came in a loss to Baltimore on August 8.[34] He hit .244/.295/.305 in 82 at-bats, mostly serving as a backup catcher to Yadier Molina. The Cardinals left Pierzynski off the playoff roster for the NLDS against the Dodgers,[35] but added him for the NLCS against the Giants.[36]
Pierzynski and the Atlanta Braves finalized a one-year deal worth $2 million on January 7, 2015.[37] The Braves had intended to use him as a backup catcher and mentor to Christian Bethancourt. However, Bethencourt struggled defensively and was eventually sent down to Gwinnett in the hope that he would improve, forcing Pierzynski into a starting role. On July 18, 2015, in a game against the Chicago Cubs, Pierzynski broke up Jon Lester's no hit bid in the eighth inning of the Braves' 4-0 loss.
Broadcasting career
Chris Rose (left), Pierzynski (center), and Eric Karros (right) during the pregame show of the 2011 World Series
Pierzynski was hired by Fox to be an analyst for the 2011 MLB postseason on the pre-game and postgame show.[38] He joined Fox again for the 2012, 2013, and 2015 postseasons.
It was announced that A. J. Pierzynski will pair up with Matt Vasgersian and John Smoltz to call the ALDS division series between the Houston Astros and the Kansas City Royals
On December 8, 2005, Pierzynski appeared on TNA Impact!, a professional wrestling television program aired by the professional wrestling promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. Accompanied by White Sox strength trainer Dale Torborg, Pierzynski presented TNA wrestlers A.J. Styles, Chris Sabin and Sonjay Dutt with memorabilia from the 2005 World Series. At the ceremony, an incident was staged to include Pierzynski in a controversy with the wrestlers. Pierzynski then made his professional wrestling managerial debut at TNA Turning Point 2005 on December 11, 2005, accompanying Torborg, Sabin and Dutt to ringside for their match against the Diamonds in the Rough.
On October 10, 2006, Pierzynski appeared on ESPN2's Cold Pizza, wearing the X-Division Championship belt,[clarification needed] and challenged WWE Champion John Cena, who was also a guest that morning, to a Title vs. Title steel cage match whenever Cena wanted to have it. Cena responded asking if Pierzynski got his championship belt out of a gumball machine outside.
Pierzynski returned to TNA in January 2007, when he and Torborg confronted Lance Hoyt. At Against All Odds 2007 Pierzynszki was in Torborg's corner when he was defeated by Hoyt, who had David Eckstein in his corner.[39]
On the September 7, 2009 edition of WWE Raw, Pierzynski made his first appearance on WWE television, replacing Chris Jericho in a game show called The Price is Raw while Bob Barker was hosting.
Pierzynski is married to Lisa Pierzynski.[40] The couple have two children, Ava and Austin.[41]
↑ "Love him or hate him, you have to respect A.J. Pierzynski - ESPN The Magazine". Sports.espn.go.com. Retrieved April 1, 2013. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ "Time To Get Over Your A.J. Pierzynski Hatred". sportsmockery.com. Retrieved March 2, 2015. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ 3.0 3.1 "A.J. Pierzynski," Player File, Biography, Chicago White Sox, official website. Retrieved May 18, 2007.
↑ Chris Berman during Game 1 of 2005 ALDS ESPN Telecast
↑ 5.0 5.1 "A.J. Pierzynski," Transactions, Baseball-reference.com, Retrieved May 18, 2007.
↑ "A.J. Pierzynski," Career stats, Chicago White Sox, official website. Retrieved May 18, 2007.
↑ "Giants give up Nathan in deal for catcher". ESPN.com. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ Jenkins, Bruce (January 15, 2005). "Ballplayers still getting their edge". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 23, 2008. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ "Bottom line: A.J.'s a gamer". ESPN.com. Retrieved October 21, 2008. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ Newman, Mark (July 6, 2006). "Nomar, A.J. named Final Vote winners". MLB.com. Retrieved July 10, 2014. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ "Cubs' Barrett slugs Pierzynski, leads to melee". ESPN. Retrieved October 23, 2008. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ Associated Press (May 20, 2006). "Cubs' tempers boil, bats fizzle as ChiSox win". ESPN.com. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ Associated Press (May 26, 2006). "Barrett suspended 10 games for igniting brawl". ESPN.com. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ "Retrosheet Boxscore: Chicago White Sox 6, Texas Rangers 0". Retrosheet.org. April 18, 2007. Retrieved April 1, 2013. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ "Chicago White Sox vs. Seattle Mariners - Recap - April 21, 2012 - ESPN". Scores.espn.go.com. April 21, 2012. Retrieved April 1, 2013. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ "Twins upset about Pierzynski's play". mlb.com. Retrieved May 29, 2007. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ "White Sox, A.J. Pierzynski agree on two-year extension". MLB.com. Retrieved October 21, 2008. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ "Pierzynski, White Sox renew partnership | whitesox.com: News". Chicago.whitesox.mlb.com. June 19, 2012. Retrieved April 1, 2013. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ "Pierzynski re-signs with White Sox for 2 years". Sports.espn.go.com. December 3, 2010. Retrieved April 1, 2013. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ Calcaterra, Craig (June 13, 2012). "Men's Journal survey: A.J. Pierzynski is baseball's most hated player. Philly has the most obnoxious fans". HardballTalk. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ "MLB.com Gameday | MLB.com: Gameday". Mlb.mlb.com. Retrieved April 1, 2013. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ "Rangers, catcher A.J. Pierzynski officially agree to one-year, $7.5 million deal | texasrangers.com: News". Texas.rangers.mlb.com. Retrieved April 1, 2013. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ 23.0 23.1 "A.J. Pierzynski Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ Browne, Ian (December 3, 2013). "Pierzynski agrees to one-year deal with Red Sox". MLB.com. Retrieved December 3, 2013. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ Twitter / Ken_Rosenthal: Pierzynski passed physical with #RedSox, one-year deal is official.
↑ Castrovince, Anthony (June 26, 2014). "Ejections are actually on the rise this season". MLB.com. Retrieved July 11, 2014. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ Browne, Ian (June 5, 2014). "Pierzynski tossed by plate umpire in series finale". MLB.com. Retrieved July 11, 2014. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ Perry, Phil (July 9, 2014). "Reports: Sox designate Pierzynski for assignment". Comcast SportsNet New England. Retrieved July 9, 2014. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ Bradford, Rob (July 10, 2014). "The A.J. Pierzynski Problem was Worse than Anybody Could Have Imagined". WEEI. Retrieved July 10, 2014. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ Speier, Alex. "Red Sox release A.J. Pierzynski". Retrieved July 17, 2014. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ "Cardinals sign veteran catcher A.J. Pierzynski". ESPN.com. Associated Press. July 26, 2014. Retrieved July 27, 2014. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ "A.J. Pierzynski has 3 hits in debut to help Cardinals break 4-game skid". ESPN.com. Associated Press. July 26, 2014. Retrieved July 27, 2014. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ Langosch, Jenifer (August 3, 2014). "Cards rally behind Lackey's debut to stun Brewers". MLB.com. Retrieved August 4, 2014. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ Boarman, John (August 8, 2014). "A. J. Pierzynski hits first home run with St. Louis, Cardinals lose to Orioles". Tireball Sports. Retrieved July 26, 2015. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ http://nesn.com/2014/10/a-j-pierzynski-videobombs-mike-matheny-during-cardinals-win-gif/
↑ "Cards add A.J. Pierzynski for NLCS". ESPN.com. Associated Press. October 10, 2014. Retrieved July 26, 2015. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ Bowman, Mark (January 8, 2015). "Fiery Pierzynski ready to be mentor in Atlanta". MLB.com. Retrieved January 8, 2015. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ "Most Popular E-mail Newsletter". USA Today. October 2, 2011. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ "Dale Torborg's profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved May 3, 2010. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ Britton, Tim (April 16, 2014). "A.J. Pierzynski has second father figure in White Sox broadcaster, Hawk Harrelson". Providence Journal. Retrieved July 10, 2014. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
↑ Dorsey, David (February 18, 2014). "Pierzynski glad to be back". News-Press. Retrieved July 10, 2014. <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
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Archivio della categoria: Kunst ist Verbindung
art is connection
Mia e Claudio Castello Ursino Catania
sicilian newspaper
Meeting with the artist from Catania Claudio Arezzo di Trifiletti: “For me art is a connection and a successful man is one who thinks and acts for the good of others”
We met by chance, as often happens in life. We found ourselves talking about civil living in a chaotic and often indifferent city, as well as the habits in our city, and we immediately established a certain understanding. We found ourselves connected on the same channel, that of direct communication, simple, without unnecessary frills. We are referring to the meeting, in a busy town square, with the volcanic and multifaceted artist from Catania, Claudio Arezzo di Trifiletti, 43 years old, descendant of an ancient and emblazoned Sicilian family, artist in constant evolution, who thinks and acts, observes, elaborates and realizes, thanks to his ability to connect immediately with everything that surrounds him, connecting with nature, with the trees, with the breath of the wind, with the colors of the leaves and the sky.
Claudio Arezzo di Trifiletti, attentive to everything that happens around him, free from the chains of approximation and current consumerism, supported by his Christian faith and a strong spirituality, he lives in a house enriched by a private collection of paintings, installations and many memories of his life. Man, boy, instrument of a project that has been going on for some years, with a particular heart and sensitivity. As a young man he was an organizer in a club, at the age of 23 he was the owner of the well-known Clone Zone, but after a trip to India, he opened a door in infinity and realized that he had to follow the path of art. That is when his frantic journey began, his search, his new path where everything is colored, painted, regenerated. For his art he is inspired by objects, or rather, by the vibrations that they transmit, from the history they carry inside.
He has taken part in many initiatives, such as the various murals around the world, but his real passion is the knowledge and the creation of an alternative world for his city that often hides behind an illusory and vague aspect. Among his initiatives, in a tree in Piazza Abramo Lincoln – a stone’s throw from his house, – a tribute to a great journalist like Tiziano Terzani, who was very careful about the problem of the environment. The particularity of his essence, his works and initiatives have convinced us to meet him during the realization of the “Mediterranean” Mural, in the AMT R1 car park in Catania, via Plebiscito 747. The chat with Claudio Arezzo of Trifiletti allowed us to learn more about the artist, discover his passion for art and talk about his initiatives and future projects.
Mediterraneo AMT ART PROJECT
How did passion, transport, and love for art come about for Claudio Arezzo di Trifiletti?
“What is art, everyone represents it in a different way. For many, art can be an emotion in front of an image that does not have to necessarily be considered a work. We are submerged in images that idolize a system by pretending to fight it. Art is a mission, you can be artists doing nothing and giving a smile to those who will treasure it. The artist is not convinced; for me the artist is a discoverer of new worlds. The word art is matter, many apply it to concepts by trivializing its essence. I imprinted a memory of when I was a child, I looked at the trees from under the trunk upwards, the sky embraced them and a voice inside my heart asked me about my future, what I would really like, and really everything that we like does not makes us happy, but the mere fact of being part of a story makes us free to decide and dedicate ourselves to that path, which really starts as a small seed until it becomes a mature tree. For me art is connection, connection is to see through the heart, to feel through the wind, to try as much as possible to be present in several dimensions “.
bahnhof-unter-den-linden1 berlin
Tell us about your life path and how you started to change, to feel the vibrations of the world and of your existence, passing from the clubs and the disco to a more intimate connection with others, with the world …
“I was born wanting to communicate, I was always attracted to my neighbor’s well, I was convinced that there were giants inside. I grew up with the my grandparents’ friends, so I can say, I had many grandparents, even today sometimes in my prayers I try to remember them and there are indeed many angels that spend themselves on my inner growth. My life is made of many sounds, moving photographs that will remain indelible. Of all the people I met, many have managed to leave me a lot, I think I’m hungry for life, in its crudity I feel the various realities, and then an infinity to which we all belong. My past life served me as a passage, from one world to another, everything changes when you wake up, the music, the colors, the style, the value of money, and above all the use. First I was devoted to the deceptive image of the successful man, seated on his throne, boat, car, villa, house, travel, clothes, money, parties, happiness. Today a successful man, in my opinion, is one who thinks and acts for the good of his neighbor, of society”.
235 catedral de barcelona
What do you think of politics, wars in the world, poverty and wealth?
“Politics, unfortunately, with the era of television, the image has lapsed, I see many characters who fight only for the place at the cost of even burning their voters, I like to remember President Pertini because I was really small. We are in 2018. The energy, the air, the light, the water, the earth, everything is mutating, man has been transformed, but very soon it will happen that we will open that door and discover the most powerful technological invention of the times , we will meet again and we will understand that everything resides in us. Fear will disappear, wars will cease and politicians along with all the galleys will no longer have reason to exist along with the wars commanded for hidden interest “.
art and agriculture terre di martorina
What does man need today – in every part of the world – to live better and to listen – attentively – to what nature, the earth and the breath of the wind suggest?
“Man needs only to remember who he really is, not to conform to a project that protects him, not to be part of a system that projects him onto a billboard that smiles. He needs to go back to nature, to the benefit of resting his feet on land, to respect the planet without dreaming of conquering the moon. Respecting the planet means knowing how to understand the vocation of a land, supporting a river, not underestimating electromagnetic waves, the impulse of light, the importance of fire, understanding the depth of an ocean as a filled part of a universe that despite everything we know about it, it always remains deeply mysterious “.
studio casa museo sotto l’etna
Tell us about the projects and initiatives that, as a man in continuous search and rediscovery of himself, of others and of nature, you have carried out in these years …
“My first solo exhibition took place at the Norman Castle of Aci Castello, Inverse Route is the promised premise of Smiles Paintings and Imprints New York which also marked the closure of the doors of that kingdom to which I will always remain very attached. Imprints has continued over time in Barcelona, Berlin, London, Paris, Rome, Abu Dhabi, Cairo, Amsterdam, Turkey, Malta, Greece, Milan, Venice and of course my beloved Catania. From Imprints many works have been created that I have kept along with other works to which I remain connected because they are recognized in the soul. Painted clay bodies of gold, or Peace to All Italian ambassadors in the world, breathe art, etc. I like to create places that help to remember, perhaps keeping a drawing slipped from a child’s folder, or finding a buddy companion for the bell at the entrance, I rediscovered a new way to connect present, past, and future stories. The House Museum under Mt. Etna, or even the Clone Zone, which by nature are distinct and separate, maintain a whole integrity, I exist. Mezzanine Living is a modest attic between the roofs of historic buildings in the center of Catania, for me it is a nest that welcomes lovers of the sky beyond the visual border, of dreamers who enrich the space through a shared breath. Lately, I’ve been dedicating myself to create a new reality in an estate in Ragusa, “Terre di Martorina”.
sicily needs love world needs love
What does it mean for you to live on earth, to live on an island like Sicily and what is needed for each of us to improve ourselves?
“For me, living on earth means that it is the only cognition of life that I remember, even if I remember unexplainable things, for me living this life means learning and spreading, arriving to fulfill that desire that has seen me born, that is not according to what others would like for you, but to play your own number even though not everything is in harmony. Living in Sicily is very important for me, I have always lived on an island, not surprisingly Imprints was born in Manhattan. ‘Sicily needs love’ like ‘Spring in New York’ are connected by a word to me very dear: World needs love. I have a strong connection with Etna and its inhabitants, with the stone and its air, when I’m in Terre di Martorina I look at the sky between the Iblei Mountains and Catania and I feel happy “.
Who is today, compared to the past, Claudio Arezzo di Trifiletti, as you see yourself and define yourself in everyday life: what are your hobbies, your readings, your favorite music and what do you think of animals (dogs, cats etc. .) that, more and more often, keep us company, understand us and help us on our journey? What relationship do you have with your city and with others?
“Claudio is still Claudio, if Claudio managed a club as he once did, he would surely feel out of place, precisely because that management served to travel, understand that strength is not arrogance, that the ticking of an ice cube cannot call you back to order. You cannot tell what you were when you became what you wanted, even if the result was not yet to make sacrifices in the name of a cause. Cause I dedicated myself to and perhaps distorted, but no one will ever say that I have not experienced what it means to get in tune with that voice that many say is the wind, that guides you even when transplanting a tree, its design, its position in the future . I spend time between thinking and acting, I think I did a lot maybe my way, but it does not matter, I used the time I had available in the way that I felt most useful, leaving my story, which is waste paper, or true adventure does not matter, I lived it and experienced it. When I returned to the closure of the club, I read, I needed to detoxify, forget many scenes that weighed down my mind, turn to something more peaceful, high, which could make me hope that one day I could improve first, one of the homagetom texts on pilgrimage to S. Marino from a Child Priest was the Poem of the Man God of Maria Valtorta, one of the first very rare series were three volumes of about 800 pages, I read the third, that I think was the last book, I have not had enough time or perhaps cognitive serenity to not have to devote to the reading of my conscience, go to reread all the images and things said maybe in a busy day. The music I prefer is classical, experimental, or the clean sound. I have a wonderful life partner as a gift, called Mia and she is my furry angel. I have a wonderful relationship with my city, I can affirm empathy beyond contexts, I like the narration of sudden stories, which enrich this life with authenticity “.
Place Saint Germain Paris
What do you think about the youth, power, love and giving oneself to others?
“I think young people are living the echo of years passed, plastic power has deteriorated, for me love is abandoning oneself without offending”.
Tell us about your project Imprints, how it originated and what it aims for and tell us about the contemporary exhibition “Private collection Imprints of peace” that you have already scheduled at the Palazzo della Cultura in Catania from 1 December to 6 January 2019 …
“Imprints originated in 2007 in N.Y. A guy with his own savings arms himself with imposing dreams and after India re-experiences the language of the heart. I distributed the invitation to the exhibition to the many hundreds of people who climbed on the cloth. There is no being who does not leave his traces, and these traces are the testimony of his coming to this world. There are infinite traditions, philosophies, religions, customs, which try to divide the thoughts of beings on this Earth. Through this project we witness the equality of all those who tread the canvas, which represents the Earth on which they walk, the “World”. In a society of colors, of forms that, contrasting, give rise to stories and representations of a contemporary reality that lives through testimonies of Being. Please do not interrupt this project that uses art as an instrument of peace. I do not speak English, I come from the land of the volcano, Mt. Etna, and the home of St. Agatha. These sheets, testify in my creation, the union of all of you who pass over us. We are all responsible for this world that wants only the love for your neighbor and the recognition of life that unites us on this Earth. Private Collection Imprints of Peace is the testimony of over 120 performances that become portals, acrylic in size over a 1.50 cm. A mirror of one’s soul in hearing the testimony of the passage. Energy set in motion through the eyes, a story that can be deciphered over time. I would like to exhibit an extremely important passage documented through abstract forms that speaks of the contemporary world as a ray of a great wheel. There is no period that I prefer, even if sometimes I happened to be at risk for really dangerous circumstances. From December 1 to January 6, 2019 at the Palazzo della Cultura, I hope to be able to testify to my city, my most lively pride of being part of it”.
339 rijks museum amsterdam
Where do you think art, the path, the enthusiasm and the desire for sharing the connection with the world of Claudio Arezzo di Trifiletti will reach?
“I do not aspire to be understood in the world, one in which I believe that in every part of the world there is a small world that belongs to us, I just try to tune in. I am very enthusiastic without giving too many explanations, sometimes I am down and I try to understand and work in order not to be down any longer, sometimes even by removing dried leaves “.
To finish, what message do you want to leave to those who read you, to those who listen to you and to those who observe and feel your works?
“I like to put color on the day that will come”.
“When I follow my instinct, I know only what I feel, writing it would be impossible, so I paint”.
Questo articolo è stato pubblicato in 2019 Palazzo della Cultura, art is connection, Ausstellung Zeitgenössische Kunst, Catania 1 de diciembre 6 de enero de 2019, Catania 1 december 6 januari 2019, Catania 1 December 6 January 2019, Catania 1 Dicembre 6 Gennaio 2019, Catania 1. Dezember 6 Januar 2019, catania private collection imprints of peace, el arte es conexión, Exhibition Contemporary Art Catania, Exposición de arte contemporáneo, Exposition Art contemporain, kuns is konneksie, Kunst ist Verbindung, l'arte è connessione, Mediterraneo AMT ART PROJECT, sicilian newspaper, sicily needs love world needs love, Tentoonstelling hedendaagse kunst, Uitstalling Kontemporêre Kuns, Выставка современного искусства, Катания 1 декабря 6 января 2019 года, معرض الفن المعاصر e taggato come 2019 Palazzo della Cultura, 235 catedral de barcelona, 339 rijks museum amsterdam, acrylic, aloe arborescens, aloe vera, amsterdam, art and agriculture, bahnhof-unter-den-linden1 berlin, barcellona, barcelona, berlino, catania, contemporary art, contemporary artist, contemporary painting, contemporary paintings, cronaca oggi maurizio sesto giordano, Exhibition Contemporary Art, formikepazze, germany, imprints, imprints amsterdam, imprints art, imprints barcelona, imprints berlin, Imprints of peace, Mediterraneo AMT ART PROJECT, Mia e Claudio Castello Ursino Catania, olanda, private collection imprints of peace, SICILIA, sicilian newspaper, sicily, SICILY NEEDS LOVE, spagna, spring in new york, studio casa museo sotto l'etna, Tentoonstelling hedendaagse kunst, Terre di Martorina, world needs love il 29 Maggio, 2018 da installazioni
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KNAPP helps John Lewis add capacity through automation in Magna Park 2
01 February 2017 00:00:00
As part of its goal of becoming the UK’s leading omni-channel retailer, John Lewis has invested further in its National Distribution Centre in Milton Keynes with the addition of a second facility, featuring automated handling systems from KNAPP.
Part of the company’s £250m investment in its logistics network to ensure efficiency in store replenishment and fulfillment of online orders from a single pool of stock, the new warehouse went live in stages during 2015 and 2016.With 48 stores and a thriving online business supporting sales in excess of £4 billion, John Lewis is the UK’s largest department store group, stocking more than 350,000 lines across fashion, home and technology.
Working in partnership with KNAPP, John Lewis has added Magna Park 2 (MP2) to the site, connected to Magna Park 1 (MP1) by a 96m-long link bridge to create a ‘campus’ operation to support further growth. The automated logistics systems supplied by KNAPP in the 650,000 sq ft MP1 back in 2009 helped the retailer to implement a ‘sell one, pick one’ replenishment strategy for its stores in order to minimise stock in its distribution network. The warehouse automation has been developed since then to support John Lewis as its multi-channel distribution expanded and evolved into an omni-channel operation. With the addition of MP2, the Magna Park Campus can now process hanging garments for the first time.
Consolidation is crucial
State-of-the-art automated handling systems from Dürkopp Fördertechnik, a member of the KNAPP Group, allow theprocessing of clothing on hangers in MP2 and enable the consolidation of hanging garments with other goods for both store replenishment and online orders. “The ability to consolidate goods in this way is crucial for the business,” explains John Munnelly, Head of Operations at the Magna Park Campus, “because some 40% of fashion orders include what we call ‘binnable’ items – those stored in totes – such as shoes and accessories.” The consolidation of orders between MP1 and MP2 is reducing the total number of orders, which results in a significant saving in transport costs.
Capacity for 1.6m garments
With a footprint of 675,000 sq ft and a further 1.1 million sq ft of space on its mezzanine floors, MP2 has capacity for 1.6m garments. The hanging garment storage area has six levels, divided into static and dynamic sections. The static storage area uses Dϋrkopp’s ‘trolley-less’ conveyor technology whereby hangers are carried directly on the conveyor, enabling both single items and blocks of garments to be transported on the same system. The dynamic storage area has 126 buffers and uses Dϋrkopp’s RFID-controlled Rolladapter technology, which allows the use of a wide range of plastic or metal hangers and through which every garment carries unique product information in real time for tracking, picking and sorting. The Rolladapter system is also used in the garment sortation area, where a 3-stage sequence sorter ensures that batch-picked product is delivered in a store-friendly manner to the John Lewis branches, whilst e-commerce items are transported to the packing stations in the exact sequence required.
Extra storage capacity
Tote storage in MP2 is handled by KNAPP’s YLOG-Shuttle system, which enables shuttles to travel in both directions through the use of swivelling wheels and an innovative power supply system. With 72 shuttles serving over 71,000 locations, the YLOG store feeds totes containing flat-packed fashion items to three ergonomically designed pick-to-light stations. MP2 also features a high-bay pallet store for pre-toted buffer stock, served by five automatic stacker cranes that operate to a height of 19.4m in aisles that are 130m long.
Resident service team
At peak, Magna Park replenishes some 3 million units of stock to stores each week, as well as delivering approximately 60% of the online business, either directly to the customer or via Click and Collect. This means that any unplanned downtime for the warehouse automation can have a catastrophic impact on John Lewis’ supply chain. To avoid this, both MP1 and MP2 are supported by KNAPP’s resident Customer Service team, which ensures maximum performance capacity and availability for the handling systems through swift resolution of any issues and by carrying out a comprehensive programme of preventative maintenance.
Visit KNAPP on Stand H91 at EDX 2017
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1. Incorporation of Privacy Policy
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Men’s Shed Movement
South Worcestershire Group
Further Help
Queens Award Voluntary
In 2014 Mr Makar and Mary Symons invited Tony jones from South Worcestershire, to chair a meeting of prospective members. Working with just a small group of other colleagues, Mary invited a speaker, and we held an inaugural meeting at Pershore Civic Centre on 25 June.
The aims and objectives of the Group are those of our “parents” Kidderminster group. To support men with Prostate Cancer and those who care for them. We also aim to raise public awareness and provide education and information about prostate cancer.
Our ambition is to provide a focal point and venue in the south of Worcestershire that enables those affected to meet up, hear good speakers, discuss issues and ask questions that can be shared and answered by specialists and those involved. A very arbitrary line dividing the country with post-codes from Worcestershire southwards has been used for invitations for our more “rural” membership than the original parents Kidderminster Prostate Cancer Support Group. Clearly we are delighted when members wish to attend meetings at either or both Kidderminster and Pershore. At our 3 public meetings each year we have been gratified by the numbers (up to 65), who have turned up at Pershore.
We have already held events to raise awareness of Prostate Cancer and also fund-raised events, including of course, for “Rory the Robot”. Our plans for the future are entirely dependant on the membership views and we have enjoyed lively question and answer sessions at all our 2016 meetings.
We are a friendly group where respecting confidences and enjoying one another’s company play a major role in the format of our get-togethers. Why not get in touch and join us?
Contact: Gordon Kingston : 01386 462 253
© 2020 KWPCSG
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SYDNEY REVEALS ITS WOMEN’S INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL PROGRAM
PIANIST NOVAK MANOJLOVIC NAMED THE 2019 FREEDMAN JAZZ FELLOW
Wangaratta takes a break
Convergence – Vittorio Mezza and Mark Ginsburg
Where in the world is…..Matt Ottignon?
Francesca Prihasti profile
TROMBONE SONG CYCLE – A Q&A WITH JOSH KYLE
WOMEN TAKE CENTRE STAGE IN SYDNEY – SIWJF 2018
IRON IN THE BLOOD: FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM
James Muller on Live at Wizard Tone
Joanne Kee
Sophisticated and singular, pianist Novak Manojlovic’s rhythmically dense compositions and sonic layering took out the $20,000 cash prize at this year’s Freedman Jazz at the The Studio, Sydney Opera House on Sunday 8 September.
Running for 17 years, once again Freedman Jazz proved an enthralling and inspirational event. Each of the three finalists delivered exceptional sets, making the three judges’ final decision most difficult.
Competitors Elly Hoyt delivered a brave, audacious and poignant musical statement focusing on the plight of refugees to this country while accomplished pianist Harry Sutherland provided a beautifully understated and subtle interchange with trumpeter Tom Avgenicos.
But there could only be one winner, the 2019 Freedman Jazz Fellow Novak Manojlovic played a superb suite of original music utilizing both piano and synthesiser. In reference to all three performances, judge Mike Nock ONMZ commented on the lofty heights that jazz in Australia has reached.
Novak plans to use the $20,000 Freedman Fellowship prize to take his longstanding piano trio HEKKA (featuring Jacques Emery on bass and Tully Ryan on drums) on a 10-date national and international Oceanic tour, where they will collaborate with a projection artist residing in each city. A new, one hour set of music will be composed specifically for the trio and visuals.
Audiences were also treated to a unique set by the Hauptmann Trio, led by 2010 Freedman Jazz Fellow Ben Hauptmann accompanied by siblings Zoe and James.
Event: Freedman Jazz, The Studio, Sydney Opera House
Sunday 8 September 2019
abc jazz
australian jazz
Ben Hauptmann
Elly hoyt
Freedman Fellowship
freedman jazz
Freedman Jazz Fellow
novak manojlovic
the music trust
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You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘FISA Legislation’ category.
Why the NSA Eavesdropping Is So Dangerous
October 5, 2013 in "clean" remark, "It's a Wonderful Life", First Amendment, FISA Legislation, FOIA, Net Neutrality, NSA, Spying on American Citizens | Tags: FISA, NSA, Security | 3 comments
When computers first started, vulnerabilities were not made public. Instead one alerted the maker of the vulnerability privately, so the bad guys would not find out about it. But most often, those receiving the alert in secret, would be in no hurry to fix it.
Then vulnerabilities started to became public. As soon as one was found, it was posted and the makers were forced by public pressure to scramble and fix the flaw. So once a vulnerability was found, a temporary fix could be slapped together even if it meant taking the server off line. Publishing made the Internet safer for us all.
The NSA does just the opposite. Not only was it collecting data as it passed through its servers, but it has compromised a huge number of user’s computers and phones just like any hacker. It has the potential to control almost any computer around the globe, according to the most recent release of data coming from Edward Snowden.
It has the unique ability to do so by its strategic location in the middle of the data stream. Many of the “401 File not found”s you have received from what you thought were up-and-running sites, innocuously came from the NSA according to Snowden’s released data. Once connected, the NSA then installs it’s own data directing all your flow to its secret servers, first before it gets passed on to where you were intending.
The ease with which your servers are compromised comes from NSA’s collusion it has with Verizon, Comcast, and the other servers who have access to the internal workings of your machine. This, coupled with back doors manufactured expressly for the NSA, makes any computer susceptible to infiltration.
There is no way your IT guys can block them, because it is so secret.
And that is the problem. Edwards Snowden left the NSA with tremendous amounts of information, and fortunately decided to make it public. Computer surveillance has been in effect 10 years now. One must wonder, how many service technicians working with the NSA, have left with that information, and who have not gone public, but chose to sell it to those to whom such information is important?
What if the Chinese already have all the codes the NSA uses to get into any American’s computer? (All we have is the NSA’s words that they don’t. But the NSA has rarely told the truth.)
In other words… because all these NSA codes and methods are top secret, any bad agent possessing that powerful secret, can wreak havoc far longer than he could if the IT community were able to pounce and scramble out a fix right away….
We are now at the point, where cyber infiltration is a far more serious threat to the USA than ragged desert terrorists jumping through hoops of fire in training videos.
The NSA needs to recognize this and turn to the IT community and publish their back doors and vulnerabilities.
It would make everyday spying on Americans much harder, but would protect our system of electronics against a devastating attack.
In layman’s terms, it is much easier to get away with murdering someone in a mountain cabin far from other people, than it is to do so in the middle of a police station… If everyone is a cop, we are much safer than if we have something we think is a secret, but is turns out it is not.
Balanced against spying on American citizens, i think sealing up the NSA caused vulnerabilities to our system, is a no-brainer.
Drop Charges Against Snowden Now; He’s a Whistleblower; Not a Traitor
September 13, 2013 in "It's a Wonderful Life", A Dad's Responsibility, A Moral Man In The White House, FISA Legislation, NSA, Spying on American Citizens | Leave a comment
Courtesy of the Nature Files
So says the following:
FISA Court: ordered the government to review for declassification a set of secret rulings about the National Security Agency’s bulk trawls of Americans’ phone records.,” acknowledging that disclosures by the whistleblower Edward Snowden had triggered an important public debate.”
The Fisa court ordered the Justice Department to identify the court’s own rulings after May 2011 that concern a section of the Patriot Act used by the NSA to justify its mass database of American phone data. The ruling was a significant step towards their publication.
It is the second time in a week that a US court has ordered the disclosure of secret intelligence rulings.
James Clapper: the director of national intelligence, on Thursday conceded that the NSA is likely to lose at least some of its broad powers to collect data on Americans.
“As loath as I am to give any credit to what’s happened here, I think it’s clear that some of the conversations this has generated, some of the debate, actually needed to happen.”
In other words, according to the secret FISA court itself, and James Clapper himself, what Snowden did was for this nation’s good and well being.
YOU CAN’T CRIMINALIZE SOMEONE WHO DOES SOMETHING FOR HIS NATION’S WELL BEING.,,,,
Drop the Charges, Now.
There are times when the “rules” are wrong or are put in place to protect “wrong” being done by “wrong” people. Those times, breaking the “wrong” rules and following a higher moral code, is the right thing to do.
But when a court, and the head of Intelligence both say what you did was good, and was needed, it is impossible for you to prosecute him and not still be… “wrong”….
Time To Shut Down The NSA
June 15, 2013 in "Stupid is, A Dad's Responsibility, A Moral Man In The White House, Accountability, administration policy, Alberto Gonzales, America's morals, American Right to Privacy, Boston Massachusetts, but its not true; its satire, Civil But Disobedient, civil disobediance, Conspiracy theorist, credibility, cyber warfare, Do Something!, Dumbing of America, Executive Privilege, FISA Legislation, Freedom of Speech, getting to know you, House of Slytherin, impending attack, In God We Trust, John R. Bolton, Live Free or Die, Lotus Eaters, Main stream media, Ministry of Magic, money in politics, NSA, nuclear weapons, open government, Sarah Palin, Secret Government Searches, sex should be private, Sher Valenzuela, Soviet Union collapse | 2 comments
it is probably time to discuss this.
For years we have quietly known and accepted the negatives of having an NSA. Things like we need it for our protection, or it makes things safer, tended to overide our fears that they know too much already, and I can’t do anything in private anymore…
We accepted that as progress.
However, when you have an organization so secret, that members of Congress are shocked to find out what it is doing, that no one knows who is authorizing who gets spied upon and what, that when brought before the courts for overstepping the Constitution, it can’t be prosecuted because a) it operates under “secret” laws, b) with “secret operations”, c) authorized by “secret courts” …. it is time to shut the entire operation down.
Why do we have the NSA when we have the CIA and the FBI. The FBI covers domestic spying. The CIA covers international spying. So, unless we find out that there are aliens and the NSA is really running the world while we think otherwise, then it probably ought to go.
I find it interesting that those on the far right, and those on the far left are the most outraged by this disclosure. We’ve been stating that news on this blog after the story was broken back in 2007-8 and not one press person cared. I supposed the AP Story opened their eyes this time. Struggling to put a finger on why, I came up with the theory primarily by looking at Congress, that it is the libertarians on left and right who are against, and the conformist, primarily in the center who are acceptive. So this gives us a split where the bottom third and the top third of the political body are opposed to the middle third… If you look at Congress that is exactly how it splits up. Moderates are pro domestic spying, the libertarians are not.
Probably similar is the theory that those beholden to corporate interests are pro-spying, after all, that is normal in the corporate environment; interoffice spying is not limited by any judicial system because it is deemed to be private. Those aghast, tend to fight corporate intrusion from their original political perspective, either left of right.
What the NSA does, watch everything to discern what is happening to increase its chances of survival, is not new. Intelligence has been the secret success of many an empire. Knowing what someone will do before they do it, is pretty comfortable in a world where in a day, we probably pass within 10 feet of 10,000 people (that includes inside our vehicles).
That is what all governments with the capacity, do. The biggest argument against it, is that it is un-American. Sure we have the “ability” to do it, but do we have the restraint, not to…
America has always been ruled by restraint. When Washington was entreated to be the King, he restrained and said no. When the heads of Europe all bet that Washington would invent a method to stay in power, he restrained, and government turned over peacefully. When the US was left in charge of a broken Europe, it put it back together and went home. The only country to invade another and give it back willingly to its original owners.
We had a scare in Boston a while back. Did the NSA protect us then? It’s a secret, no one knows. In Newtown 26 bodies littered the floor of an elementary school. Did the NSA protect us then? When a gunman burst into Aurora firing into the audience, did the NSA protect us then? When Gabby Gifford took a bullet, where was the NSA? Did the NSA protect us then?
That is the point. We are always in danger. But our personal lives are more at risk if our private information should fall into a competitors hands, than being victim of a terrorist. In Boston just 2 people died. In Newton 26. But each and every one of us, is at risk that selective information from ones past, can be used in secret to smear each and every one of us, should it fall into the wrong hands.
What would happen if we shut the entire agency known as the NSA down? A big nothing. They overstepped. It is not knee-jerking anger to respond “Shut them down right now!” It it calm, cool reasoning tipping the balance, that points out simply that is the right way to go.
Port Of Wilmington SB 3 Bill Is Passed In Delaware’s Senate
January 16, 2013 in "Its the economy, A Dad's Responsibility, Accountability, affordable housing, ALEC, Bob Marshall, Christmas wish, Delaware, Delaware Bloggers, Delaware developers, Delaware Growth, Delaware New Jobs, FISA Legislation, fiscal responsibility, Governor Markell, Port of Wilmington, Voting Integrity | Leave a comment
Today inside the Senate a vote was taken on Bob Marshall’s bill that requires the General Assembly’s approval if the Port of Wilmington gets sold to Kinder-Morgan. The deal has caused considerably concern because it has been shrouded in secrecy. No one knows of any of its details. Someone may make billions off of this, so it is important that people look over the arrangement to see who or who isn’t hurt by this major public to private transfer…..
ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO STATE GOVERNMENT AND THE DIAMOND STATE PORT CORPORATION.
Synopsis: This act would require the Diamond State Port Corporation to obtain the approval of a majority of both Houses of the General Assembly and the Governor, through the passage of legislation, before entering into any agreement or transaction whereby the Corporation would transfer, sell, privatize, or lease all or substantially all of the Port of Wilmington to a single entity, or to a related group of entities.
Here are the cosponsors of the Bill.
Sens. Henry McDowell, Blevins, Townsend, & Reps. Keeley, Mulrooney , Brady, J.Johnson, Osienski
The bill passed with 11 votes yea and 9 votes nay, and one vote not cast. It was released out of committee on the same day with 2 favorables, 3 on the merits, and 1 unfavorable…
Unfortunately it was not an unanimous vote…
FREEDOM!!!!!!
December 28, 2012 in "clean" remark, "My City Was Gone", "Stupid is, Accountability, By the Numbers, CIA, CISPA, criminal intent, Crooks and Liars, Dick Tracy, Do Nothing, Do Something!, East Germany, Electronic Frontier Foundation, FBI, FISA Legislation, FOIA, Fourth Amendment, getting to know you, In God We Trust, It's About The Kids, Jesus and the Condemned women, Judicial Watch, Law and Order, letter writing skills, Revolving Door, rich get richer, Tennyson, Wikileaks, wish it wasn't | Leave a comment
I’m really sick today.. You see, when I was growing up, I was a history buff. I read childhood biographies of famous people, usually with the book behind the textbook while the teachers droned on and on, but once as a tyke, who upon seeing the obligatory National Park Film in the Williamsburg Visitors Center, after Patrick Henry sat down, I swore, I would always fight to protect the Constitution…. At that moment, even little as I was, I think I understood that I was temporary… But the Constitution like God, needed to be around forever…
With childish enthusiasm I imagined myself at times on the bridges of Lexington and Concord, roaming the swamps of South Carolina, and firing my muskets at King’s Mountain, and most importantly, crossing that line in the dirt on December 31, 1776 when no one else wanted to, to enlist till the end of the war.. . When it made the real difference, I said, I would step up at my own peril..
Today, I feel as George Washington must have, perched upon his horse on the New Jersey banks of the Hudson, watching the British inhabit New York and knowing there was nothing he or anyone else could do about it… Overmatched, the cause of freedom had taken a body slam.
Perhaps it is more like going back 2000 some years though. And being full of great optimism and hope for a burgeoning empire, a group of city states destined to prosper and rise, one whose morals would be impeccable, and suddenly without warning, ones best friend pulls out a knife and shoves it into your flesh and others pull out theirs, opening wounds where they can.
The Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution states that …. oh damn, here it is in it’s entirety.
Granted there have been times, particularly at war, when protecting Americans meant going against the grain of this… If someone is about to shoot you, I mean, it certainly would help if you know about it first…..
The problem with too much accumulation of information, is that once you have it, it can be used. Assurances along the lines of “I’ll never do that”… always down the line get replace with platitudes of…. ” I did it because I could…” or… ” I needed to.”
So having every thing you’ve ever done electronically in a file instantly accessed by simply typing in your name, can be a bit disconcerting… It’s a catch 22. If you have not a single demerit because you lead such a bland life, you get castigated for being a wallflower and uninteresting. On the other hand, if you take risks to live life fully, you get castigated for the errors you made… Either way, those with the power will use it to castigate you for something…. And though disguised as their trying to put you in your place, it is really their effective attempt to prove to others they wield power…
Today’s Senate voted overwhelmingly to continue the FISA Admendments Act. Like ACTA or CISPA or any other internet freedom restricting acts, had opposition been organized, it may have demanded another outcome. But today’s bill arose out of nowhere, and leadership demanded it pass, and pass it did….
Numb today, I understand the implications. It is like we chose to keep Japanese interned in concentration camps after the war was over. It is that bad.. If we are doing it for the Japanese, eventually someone argues, why not anyone else? And really, how else can one answer such an argument except to expand the offense to a greater scale?
I didn’t find about the attempted coup until waking up 3 am today. I did see outrage that Zuckerman’s picture was Twittered off a private feed! The silence over government taking our freedom, and the outrage over the release of privacy, is a stunning comparison. It begs the question: what is wrong with all of us? Shouldn’t the outrage be the other way around?
For the first time that I can find, we as a nation, have chosen to continue a war-powers act, on into peace-time. 9/11 is gone. Bin Laden is dead. We’ve preditor’d out Al Qaieda’s 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, in command. We are out of Iraq. We will soon be out of Afghanistan. We are not in a war for our nation’s survival. So why does the government need access into every American’s email, facebook account, twitter, photo’s? Why does the FBI need to show up at your facebook friends home, with a letter stating that you are under surveillance and then asking questions of their relationship with you, then forcing their silence by telling them that they can be prosecuted themselves if they even reveal to you that they’d had contact with government officials? Gee, did you ever had a friend get weird on you suddenly, like for no reason?
Should our government be allowed to do that?
According to the text of the Fourth Amendment listed above…. Absolutely Not.
And it was over before the child in me could even get his powder cartridge out of his gunnysack…
Sneak Attack: Renewal Of The Patriot Act! A Must-Stop Effort Today..
December 28, 2012 in 9/11, A Moral Man In The White House, America's morals, Bernie Sanders, Boycott ALEC Sponsors, Chris Coons, Electronic Frontier Foundation, FISA Legislation, NSA, Numbers Don't Lie, Senator Tom Carper | Leave a comment
So just putz, putz, putzing around the internet, all snug in the Holiday spirit, off a click of a click, I saw a heading saying something like “Wire tap bill moves to Friday’s vote…”
Wiretap Bill? Gosh, that is so far in back of my head, I really haven’t thought of wiretaps since… Cheney left?
Of course I’ve heard Obama hasn’t done much to mitigate, in fact he has made it worse, but wasn’t that set in stone back in 2008 or something?
No. The 2008 Bill expires 12/31/2012…. After that point, Comcast, Verizon, Facebook or any other telecommunication network, can no longer turn your information over to the government without a warrant…..
But wait. There is an attempt to sneak it through now, while no one is paying attention. Extending it for 5 years… Meaning is will expire after Obama has left office.
The bill was to come up today, voice vote and pass. However watchdogs (EFF, ACLU, Judical Watch, etc) caught it and scurried to get enough people to cause it to be debated. Tomorrow, our rights are on the line. It needs a lot of calls and every citizen who has any libertarian steak inside, needs to get really excited and call their Senators.. (The House version passed a long time ago on a perfunctory voice vote with no debate.)
It must be stopped in the Senate. If the vote to extend it fails. then by January 1, 2013. It is done.
This bill was enacted over the objections of Congress by executive order of George W. Bush. It was to expire in 2008 when it passed confirmation and became law for 4 more years.
9/11 is done. We have left Iraq. We are leaving Afghanistan. We do not need the government going through our private matters unless of course it has reason to… That will be decided by a judge… He will issue a warrant.
As an example of why we need this, the Obama administration has taken a position that makes the Bush administration pro-secrecy campaign seem pale in comparison: namely, that no one can challenge warrantless surveillance unless the government tells you in advance that you’re being surveilled—which national security interests prevent it from doing…
Which means, unless this law expires. it can’t be challenged.
Your voice is needed. The EFF, Electronic Frontier Foundation is the easiest way to reach Carper and Coons. Type in your zip code and a form pops up which sends your message directly to their Senate office. Or the old fashioned way……
Sen. Tom Carper
Sen. Chris Coons
Debate begins at 11 am Eastern…. Vote is later this day….
At What Price, Loyality?
July 15, 2012 in "clean" remark, "It's a Wonderful Life", "Its the economy, 12 Election Results, 1777, A Dad's Responsibility, abolish Medicare, Accountability, administration policy, Affordable Healthcare, affordable housing, AFL-CIO, Afro Americans, AFSCME, Alliance for Postive Growth, America's Food Supply, America's morals, American Right to Privacy, Amish, an actual good Republican, Andrew Johnson, Anywhere But Philadelphia, Arizona, Ben Franklin, Bernie Sanders, Bill Bell, bill of rights, black power, Bloggers, Blogroll, Blue Cross / Blue Shield, Boston School District, Brian Selander, Buddy Roemer, capital gains tax, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Corporations versus WE THE PEOPLE, Courage, credibility, Damn Dixie Cups, Declaration of Independance, Delaware beaches, Delaware Bloggers, Delaware Libertarian, Delaware Park, delaware's finest, Dick's Sporting Goods, early childhood development, education, eminent domain, ethics, Evolution, Exchange of ideas, exports and job creation, family values, FISA Legislation, fiscal responsibility, FOIA, Franklin Roosevelt, Freedom of Speech, Fund Schools by Taxing Wealthy Corporations, Gary Johnson, George Washington, German Reunification, Getting Rid of Hannity, getting to know you, God Bless Our Troops, Good Citizenery, good teachers, Government is Good, Greatful Dead concerts, greed is good, Green Berets, green frog theory, Greenland ice cap, Guinness Draught, Health Care, Hedge Funds & Speculation, Hillary Needs Money, Hogan's Heros, Horton Hears a Who, Housing Market, hybrid cars, hydrogen, IBEW, If this is goodbye, In God We Trust, individual responsibility, intelligence sharing, Internet Censorship, Iron Hill, Irving Berlin, It's About The Kids, It's an Investment, jalapeno peppers, Jessica Simpson, Job Growth Requires Democrats, labor unions, Largest flotilla off America, Lord of the Rings, Love You All, making bets, Margaret and Helen, Marharishi, Mexican economic benefits, Middletown High, Midwest Drought, Mike's Musings, Minot, money in politics, Mother Nature, moving on, natural gas, natural gas futures, ND, Nebraska, Neotame Is Poison, New Hampshire, new jobs, New Orleans, New York Giants, NSA, Numbers Don't Lie, Olde New Castle, Olympia Snow, On the Brink, Ooga Ooga Ooga, open government, Organized Labor, Packaging, Pandora, Paris Hilton, Pat Fish, Paul Pomeroy, per person cost, PIPA, plausible deniability, poetry, Polar Bear Expert, polls? Can't belive them, Ponzi Scheme Mitt, poor get poorer, Population explosion, Portugal, Presidential Debate, Presidential Politics, Privacy Issues, public option health care, Red Clay School District, retailer's rights, Revolutionary War, Revolving Door, Right to Redress Greviences, Roaches are Republicans, Ronald Reagan, science fiction, Seabiscuit, Secret Government Searches, Senator Jay Rockerfeller, sex should be private, Sheriff's Sale, silver bullet, silver lining, Soviet Union collapse, Spock, Spying on American Citizens, Star Trek I, Star Wars, State of Denial, Stenny Hoyer, Steve Newton, Support Mind Altering Drugs For Republicans, Talk Like A Pirate Day, telemarketers, The King Is Gone, The Pretenders, thought models, Tigers, Time Machine, Tommywonk, tranquility, Trust in the political process, Truth Be Told In Britain, US Marines, Vermont, Voting Integrity, women' rights, Women's Prerogative | 8 comments
This is going to my hard core Republican friends. Why are you still supporting Romney?
1) You know he is not going to win.
2) You know as the election heats up, his Bain Capital experience will make Republicans untouchable for decades.
3) You can’t pin down where Romney stands on anything.
4) He tied his dog to a car.
5) He stands with black people and says “Who let the dogs out, woof, woof.”
Most of you are telling me, “I certainly can’t vote for Obama. I guess I’m not voting for President this time.”
Let’s say, just for argument sakes there was a presidential candidate out there who says to have good government you need: …………………
1. Become reality driven. Don’t kid yourself or others.
Find out what’s what and base your decisions and actions
on that.
2. Always be honest and tell the truth. It’s extremely
difficult to do any damage to anybody when you are
willing to tell the truth–regardless of the
consequences.
3. Always do what’s right and fair. Remember, the more
you actually accomplish, the louder your critics become.
You’ve got to learn to ignore your critics. You’ve got to
continue to do what you think is right. You’ve got to
maintain your integrity.
4. Determine your goal, develop a plan to reach that
goal, and then act. Don’t procrastinate.
5. Make sure everybody who ought to know what you’re
doing knows what you’re doing. Communicate.
6. Don’t hesitate to deliver bad news. There is always
time to salvage things. There is always time to fix
things. Henry Kissinger said that anything that can be
revealed eventually should be revealed immediately.
7. Last, be willing to do whatever it takes to get your
job done. If you’ve got a job that you don’t love enough
to do what it takes to get your job done, then quit and
get one that you do love, and then make a difference.
Honesty. Integrity. Principal.
Sounds good so far. Let us say just for argument, he had chief executive experience. Let us say just or argument that he once ran a state, one of the fifty in this union. Let us say while governor, this is what he did…..
During his tenure, New Mexico experienced the longest period without a tax-increase in the state’s entire history.
1) He cut the rate of government growth in half,
2) Left the New Mexico state government with a budget surplus and 1000 fewer employees (without firing anyone),
3) Privatized half of the prisons in the state,
4) Brought a state-wide school voucher system to New Mexico.
5) Vetoed 750 bills (more than all the vetoes of the other 49 Governors in the country at that time, combined) with only 2 overrides, earning him the nickname Gary “Veto” Johnson.
6) In 1999, Johnson became the highest-ranking elected official in the United States to advocate the legalization of drugs.
7) Shifted Medicaid to managed care.
ISN’T THAT WHAT YOU WANT? ISN’T THAT WHAT WE NEED?
Can you not think of a better way to show your lack of enthusiasm over a wealthy capitalist buying his way to the top of your ticket, by voting for someone who has character, who does what you’ve always wanted, a doer, not a talker?
And to think…. you were simply just going to throw your vote away.
His name is Gary Johnson. He is the new party’s candidate for President.
Remember Republicans. It is your values that are important. If your party has given up and moved on from your values, don’t think you have to be loyal to the word…. “Republican”… What you have to be loyal too, is yourself. Always. Never lie to yourself.
You don’t need to waste your vote on Romney. You probably need to find more about this guy, Gary Johnson, and then throw your support behind him.
Don’t worry it is not one of the two parties on whose ticket he is running. Remember, at one point in time, the Republican Party was a once a third party too. One that went mainstream because of its core values, its principles resonated with everyday American People.
War On Hollywood
January 23, 2012 in "Holiday Inn", "Stupid is, Accountability, Boycott Hollywood Until......, breast feeding, Censorship, Chris Dodd, Citizens United, Constitution, Corporate Bailouts, Corporations versus WE THE PEOPLE, criminal intent, Crooks and Liars, Crossing the Rubicon, crotch shots, cyber warfare, FISA Legislation, Google, MPAA, parental responsibility, Patriot Act, poor get poorer, Presidential Politics, Privacy Issues, Spying on American Citizens, Stamp Act, women' rights, Women's Prerogative, Yahoo | Leave a comment
I used to admire him. I used to defend him… When Republicans lashed out at his Wall Street reform bill, I was right there, finger on the trigger, mowing them down……
But, the dude has since had a stroke and has sold out… In fact, quite a few Democrats have sold out…
In case you did not hear, Chris Dodd, who incidentally is now head of the most corrupt institution in America, the MPAA (Movie Pictures Association of America)…. went on Fox News…
(Fox News? ) to blast his fellow Democrats…….
“Those who count on quote ‘Hollywood’ for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who’s going to stand up for them when their job is at stake. Don’t ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don’t pay any attention to me when my job is at stake,”
(Dude, Fox News just owned you; do you not know how often Republicans will play that very indicting clip IN EVERY DISTRICT this upcoming election cycle?)
Couple that with the threat made on Wednesday , that if Obama did not throw his full support behind the existing SOPA or PIPA bills currently up for vote, then Hollywood was withholding all their donations this time around…….. we begin to see the big picture…..
Washington is just stupid.
Allow me to qualify that…
Since the “boiling over” of frustration from August’s flub of a standard debt ceiling passage, the overload that gave the Occupy Movement immense credibility and resonance when it began it’s long drawn-out protest, normal everyday Americans are waking up to the notion that their government is totally corrupt, completely bought out, and not one damn bit interested in what they are experiencing or have to say……..
Then, on a day when their most trusted sources of knowledge (Internet) go black, Chris Dodd makes a blundering threat that confirms and amplifies EXACTLY about what Americans are concerned….
Their politicians are bought, sold, and paid for…….
SOPA And PIPA are symbols of a greater evil: The horrific evil that BIG BUSINESS is taking over the world… (That is an exaggeration, but then again, symbols always are) …
If Dodd truly, as he expressed in the NY Times Opinion Piece, wanted to turn things around and come to a more reasonable result, the approach he took is exactly how NOT to do it.
When people are concerned that the laws hurting them, are passed out of intimidation over campaign funding, to threaten politicians publicly with intimidation, is exactly how NOT to go……
If Washington is broken, how do we fight back?
By boycotting Hollywood…. (Forget the distraction of the puppets; aim the snout of your rifle upwards at the hidden puppeteer.)
Do not pay for movies.
Do not pay for television.
Do not pay for anything but independent artists.
Independent artists…btw, are really cool…..
Taxes and The Wealthy
November 30, 2011 in "clean" remark, "Holiday Inn", "It's a Wonderful Life", "Its the economy, "My City Was Gone", "Stupid is, 04 Election Results, 1%, 10 Election Results, 12 Election Results, 50 state strategy, A Dad's Responsibility, ABC News, abolish Medicare, Accountability, ACORN, administration policy, Affordable Healthcare, affordable housing, AFL-CIO, Afro Americans, AFSCME, Agriculture, Air Force One, Akron, Al Franken, Al Gore, Al Mascitti, Alan Levin, Allan Loudell, Alliance for Postive Growth, America's Food Supply, America's morals, American Press Corp, American Right to Privacy, Amy Dudley, an actual good Republican, an NRG employee, Anderson Cooper 360, Andrew Cuomo, Ann Coulter, Anywhere But Philadelphia, AP Wireservices, Armed Service Day, as stupid does", Balanced Budget Amendment, Bank Bailouts, bank failures, Bank of America, Beau Biden, Belief in Santa Claus, Ben Bernanke, Bernie Sanders, Biden for President, Bill Kristol, Bill O'Reily, bill of rights, bipartisanship, black power, Bloggers, Blogroll, blood for oil, Bloomberg, Blue Cross / Blue Shield, Bob Gilligan, Bob Marshall, Boston Tea Party, breast feeding, Brian Lamb, Brian Selander, Bridgeville, Bush, C Span, Caesar Rodney Institute, Call It, campaign finance, Celebrety Status, Celia Cohen, Charlie Copeland, Cheap shots, Chris Coons, Chris Dodd, Christine O'Donnell, Christmas, Christmas Economy, Christmas wish, Civil But Disobedient, civil disobediance, Cleavage Shots, CNN, Colbert Report, Committee to Finance Marijuana, competition, Condoleezza Rice, Congress, Conservative Movement, Constitution, Constitutional admendments, Cornelius Fudge, Corporate Bailouts, Corporate Bankruptcies, Corporations versus WE THE PEOPLE, CorpWatch, Courage, credibility, credit rates, Crooks and Liars, daily koz, Dave Burris, David Anderson, David Plouffe, Death of Conservatism, Death of Democracy, Death of Unions, debt, Debt Ceiling Crisis, Delaware, Delaware Bloggers, Delaware Growth, Delaware legislature, Delaware Liberal, Delaware Libertarian, Delaware Lobbyists, Delaware on line, Delaware's energy needs, delaware's finest, Delaware's Insurance Commissioner, Delmarva Power, Democratic Nominee, Democratic pro tempre, Democrats = Good Guys, Democrats Rule; Republicans Drool, Democrats vrs. 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Mel Martinez, Sen. Richard Shelby, Senate District 10, Senate District 4, Veteran's Day 2008, Veteran's Day 2011, Veterans, Veterans Day 2007, Vice President Biden, Viva Viagra, Voting Integrity, Wal*mart, Walgreen's Boycott, Wall Street Journal, Walter Reed, Want Some Tea, war protests, Warren Buffet, washington post, Wayne Smith, WDEL, Weekend news cycle, West Virginia, WGMD, WHYY, William Wallace, Wilmington Christian, Wilmington News Journal, Wisconsin, wish it wasn't, women' rights, Women's Prerogative, Wrong Williams, Yahoo, YouTube | Leave a comment
Right click to open full image… Pictograph Courtesy of Viral..
So, can someone tell me again, why we shouldn’t tax the rich, and instead, balance the budget on the backs of everyone else?…….
I seem to be missing that little detail where that all makes sense……
November 30, 2010 in "clean" remark, English language, ethics, Exchange of ideas, Executive Privilege, FISA Legislation, FOIA, FSP | Leave a comment
Reading through much, and reading what others have read, I can say I’ve seen nothing much to be concerned.
People are people, and always will be. If someone acts pompously, expect to get called out on it. Learn from it and move on.
What is funny, is that I’m sure they have opinions of individuals within our state department, that are far more condescending of us, than anything so far leaked about them.
There is a lot to read, but so far, nothing drastic has hit the fan. It makes little difference whether they were published, or kept in secret forever.
Just like a marriage, when secrets come out, it’s a good thing. Things unsaid and therefore never acted upon, can now be fixed.
Were these leaks about hardware, that would be different entirely. They are only about people, and opinions people have about other people. And as everyone who reads this knows, opinions are worth a bag of crap.
Still reading.. Will let you know if something changes. But right now, it’s as if all the hoopla lead up to the release of The Lord of the Rings, only to get The Last Airbender.
Like having bad farts locked up in the bathroom, it’s about time we opened the door and cleared the air.
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Airport operation
People wait to get through security at the Orlando International Airport following a security incident on Saturday, Feb. 2, 2019. Passengers on shuttles to gates at Florida's busiest airport had to be brought back for a second screening, bringing security checkpoints to a temporary standstill. A spokeswoman for Orlando International Airport told television station WKMG on Saturday that the passengers were returned in "an abundance of caution" after some passengers may have gotten through the checkpoints without being screened property. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press via AP)
TSA Officer Jumps To His Death Inside Florida's Busiest Airport
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — An officer from the Transportation Security Administration jumped to his death from a balcony inside Florida's busiest airport Saturday, creating panic that brought some security checkpoints to a halt for hours, grounded flights and caused serious delays. Panicked passengers...
FILE - This Sept. 2, 2010 file photo shows a woman walking along the beach in Frisco, N.C. on Hatteras Island. Park rangers were once again greeting visitors at some national parks across the United States and flight operations at major airports were returning to normal on Saturday, one day after a partial government shutdown came to an end. The National Park Service said it was working on reopening all of its parks as quickly as possible, but some parks may not open immediately depending on their staff size and complexity. The Virgin Islands National Park, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, the Wright Brothers National Memorial and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park were among the parks that reopened Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019. Grand Canyon National Park issued a statement saying it would be fully operational this week. (Steve Earley/The Virginian-Pilot via AP, File)
Some national parks open to visitors post-shutdown
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Park rangers were once again greeting visitors at some national parks across the United States and flight operations at major airports were returning to normal on Saturday, one day after a partial government shutdown came to an end. While there were signs that some government...
The signature of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., is visible on a deal to reopen the government on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Jan. 25, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
The shutdown today: Workers to get paid 'in the coming days'
What's up now that the partial government shutdown ended after 35 days: WHAT'S NEW Park rangers were once again greeting visitors at some national parks across the United States and flight operations at major airports were returning to normal on Saturday, one day after a partial government shutdown...
FILE - In this April 29, 2018, file photo, a drone operator helps to retrieve a drone after photographing over Hart Island in New York. Drone sightings reported by airline pilots over New Jersey renew questions about how to accommodate the popular devices into the nation’s airspace. The ability of drones to interfere with aviation is likely to get worse as the number of machines multiplies. Many store-bought drones come with technology to prevent owners from flying them near airports, but there are hacks, and home-built machines don’t necessarily include those protections. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
Q&A: A look at what happens when drones get near airports
The ability of drones to interfere with airliners — and inconvenience their passengers — has now been demonstrated on two continents, and the problem is likely to get worse as the number of small, unmanned devices multiply. Law enforcement authorities are trying to figure out who flew a drone so...
Plane makes emergency landing in Black Sea port in Romania
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romanian authorities say an airplane flying from Cyprus to the Romanian capital has made an emergency landing in the Black Sea port of Constanta because of a problem with the wing flaps. Nobody has been reported injured. Authorities said the Romanian airline Blue Air...
Father and son John, left, and Johnny Nagel were dressed for the cold temperatures on Friday while shoveling snow outside their north Bismarck, N.D., home Friday, Jan. 18, 2019,. (Tom Stromme/The Bismarck Tribune via AP)
Weekend winter storm sweeping from Midwest to New England
CHICAGO (AP) — A winter storm started sweeping across the Midwest on Friday, leading to slick roads and runways, as it inched its way toward New England, where it was forecast to dump up to 2 feet (0.61 meters) of snow. The National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings from the Dakotas,...
A TSA worker helps passengers at the Salt Lake City International Airport, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2019, in Salt Lake City. The government shutdown has generated an outpouring of generosity to TSA agents and other federal employees who are working without pay. In Salt Lake City, airport officials treated workers from the TSA, FAA and Customs and Border Protection to a free barbecue lunch as a gesture to keep their spirits up during a difficult time. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
TSA absentee rate still high, but down from Sunday's peak
TSA officials say the rate of airport screeners missing work during the partial government shutdown has stabilized — but still at unusually high numbers — just before a three-day holiday weekend that is likely to bring bigger airport crowds. The Transportation Security Administration said Thursday...
One of two footballs that flanked local, state and federal law enforcement officials at a Tuesday news conference about public safety at the upcoming Super Bowl 53 in Atlanta. The city is hosting the game on Feb. 3. (AP Photo/Jeff Martin)
Super Bowl planners: Shutdown brings 'uncharted territory'
ATLANTA (AP) — A day after travelers waited nearly 90 minutes in snail-speed security lines at the world's busiest airport, Atlanta's mayor is concerned about the waits that could result when the city hosts the 2019 Super Bowl. The ongoing partial government shutdown is "uncharted territory" amid...
Security lines at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta stretch more than an hour long amid the partial federal shutdown, causing some travelers to miss flights, Monday morning, Jan. 14, 2019. The long lines signaled staffing shortages at security checkpoints, as TSA officers have been working without pay since the federal shutdown began Dec. 22. (John Spink/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
No. of no-show airport security screeners soars in shutdown
ATLANTA (AP) — The number of airport security screeners failing to show up for work around the country is soaring as the partial government shutdown goes into its fourth week. No-shows among screeners jumped Sunday and again Monday, when the Transportation Security Administration reported a...
A Transportation Security Administration officer works at the entrance to Concourse G at Miami International Airport, Friday, Jan. 11, 2019, in Miami. The airport is closing Terminal G this weekend as the federal government shutdown stretches toward a fourth week because security screeners have been calling in sick at twice the airport's normal rate. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
US aviation system is starting to show strains from shutdown
The partial government shutdown is starting to strain the national aviation system, with unpaid security screeners staying home, air-traffic controllers suing the government and safety inspectors off the job. Miami International Airport is providing the most visible evidence yet that the shutdown...
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Lindsay LohanDaily
Your elite source for all things Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan Network
Your Leading Source for Lindsay Lohan
Welcome to Lindsay Lohan Daily, your elite source for the talented American actress, singer-songwriter, businesswoman, fashion designer, and film producer. Here, you can find the latest news, information, and photos to keep you up-to-date! You may know Lindsay from the many Disney movies (The Parent Trap, Freaky Friday, Herbie:Fully Loaded), Mean Girls, Georiga Rule, and her upcoming movie Frame or her upcoming album. Enjoy your stay and please come back for the latest!
Lindsay joins ‘The Masked Singer Australia’
Lindsay Lohan will soon be back in action on the small screen.
The 33-year-old actress, who most recently appeared on the MTV reality series “Lindsay Lohan’s Beach Club,” will join the judges’ panel on the Australian edition of “The Masked Singer,” the show announced Sunday on social media.
Lohan will serve as a panelist along with Australian radio personality Jackie O, singer Dannii Minogue and comedian Dave Hughes. The foursome will be tasked to guess the singing celebrities dressed in unique costumes.
The former child star, who recently inked a deal with Casablanca Records, is gearing up for a busy few months ahead as she will also be dropping new music.
Back in June, Lohan shared a few snaps from a record session, revealing she is “hard at work” on new tunes.
A rep for Lohan did not immediately return our request for comment.
A Note for Our Visitors
we want to first and foremost welcome you to our fansite for the lovely and of course the very talented Miss Lindsay Lohan. Lindsay is a globally known actress who made her mark on the Disney film 'The Parent Trap'. She's since become a huge star, not only for her movies, fashion and music but also for her personal life. Gracing the covers of the top magazines, selling out screens of millions of theaters around the world, Lindsay is a 21st century pop culture icon. We are a fansite that provides you with everything that you will ever need as a fan of Lindsay. If you're looking for photos, we have the biggest Lindsay gallery online, full of HQ pics. As a fan, we want to make you feel as welcomed to our site as possible. If you have any questions or feedback for us, please don't hesitate to email us. Feel free to come back daily for the latest news, photos and updates on Lindsay's and her career.
Maintained by: Joshua
Contact Information: Email
Established on: June 30th, 2017
Fans online: 1 User Online
Most Users Ever Online Is 52 On August 13, 2019 @ 8:14 pm
The Shadow Within 2019
Out on VOD.
In a world where supernatural creatures roam amongst us, Kristy Wolfe, a tough private investigator, tries desperately to keep her secret hidden. She has descended from a long line of werewolves. When her uncle is brutally murdered, Wolfe must use her natural instinct and risk her secret to unravel the mystery before she becomes the next victim.
Untitled Album 2019-2020
Recording & Writing
3rd Studio Album by Lindsay Herself. Could appear on certain soundtrack.
The Masked Singer: Australia 2019-
Airing on Network 10.
Global megastar Lindsay Lohan, music hit maker Dannii Minogue, pop culture guru Jackie O and Aussie funny man Dave Hughes have all ripped up their busy diaries in order to play the country's biggest game of guess who, The Masked Singer Australia. As 12 celebrities take the stage hidden beneath bizarre disguises (like The Prawn and The Unicorn) this musical crack unit of detectives will take a handful of clues and the sound of each celebrity's voice to try and unearth just who is behind the mask.
Family Plugin
Cassie Steele
Jennifer Hewitt
Florian Sibereisen
Lohan Beach Club
Photo of the Moment
Lindsay on Instagram
© 2017- Lindsay Lohan Daily / / Theme by Sin21 Theme by Sin21 / Privacy Policy / DMCA / Back to top / Homepage / Back to top / Homepage
Lindsay Lohan Daily is an unofficial fansite dedicated to Lindsay Lohan. We are no way affiliated with Lindsay, with her relatives or managment. We're just fans showing our appreciation and dedication towards the amazing actress, singer and business woman. Please do not leave messages for Lindsay because she does not see them. All material published contains copyright, including images (which belongs to their owners), interviews, videos, etc. If something here belongs to you and it is not credited, please let us know so we can fix that or remove. It is strictly forbidden to copy any content or part of the site without prior consent.
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CONLANG September 2003, Week 1
Re: Subject/Object + Everyone/Someone
takatunu <[log in to unmask]>
Sat, 6 Sep 2003 23:23:37 +0200
To me, "Everyone loves someone" could also mean that all of them love one
same person, in which case "Someone is loved by everyone" means the same.
I understand that the lecturer takes the first "everyone" for "each person":
"Each person loves some person."
With "each", you frame on the collectivity, then zoom on its individuals.
With "every", you focus on the individual, then de-zoom on their
collectivity.
I think the first "someone" is made specific by reference to an individual
through distributivity while the second "someone" is non-specific.
The order in which you use the words "someone" and "everyone" changes their
meaning because they are deictic, so their meaning depends on how they are
specified by words around them. But I can't figure out why they can't be
"object" or "subject". Maybe there's a deep philosophical meaning concealed
here?
From: Chris Bates <[log in to unmask]> writes:
I would think being a lecturer in logic he would appreciate that the
order of the "for alls" and "there exists" matters a lot in the meaning.
The first is:
everyone (for all X) loves someone (there exists a Y such that loves(X,Y)).
The second is:
someone (there exists some X) is loved by everyone (such that for all X
loves(X,Y)).
I would say "someone" and "everyone" are still subjects and objects, but
with words like "Someone" or "Everyone" which qualify it is very
difficult to reorder them in any way without altering the meaning.
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Animals | Updated June 20, 2014
10 Terrifying And Dangerous Turtles and Lizards
Ron Harlan . . . Comments
Reptile attack: Nothing strikes fear into the human mind faster than the clash between prehistoric crocodiles or venomous snakes and modern man. However, we are not talking about these well-known dangers. In this shocking list, we look at the horrific Monster Lizards and Terror Turtles on Earth. Some are capable of killing, others, dismembering, or simply chewing your hand apart. The sight of a hard shell or thin tail signals danger beyond your expectations…
Green Iguana
The Iguana has become a fairly popular pet in recent years, and advocates would say having this giant, prehistoric looking reptile around is like an alternative to a dog. Although herbivorous, the Iguana can be unpredictable, and possesses razor sharp teeth. On several occasions, savage injuries have resulted when “tame” but powerful Iguana have become agitated and latched on their owners face or slashed hands with teeth and claws. Iguana may weigh up to 18 pounds and reach over 6 feet in length, making an attack by this giant lizard nothing to joke about. Emergency room visits could very well follow your visit to Jurassic park.
The Leatherback Sea Turtle is the largest of all turtles, occasionally reaching over 8 feet in length. These 2,000 pound omnivores are possibly the widest ranging vertebrate animal on Earth, but are becoming rare and endangered due to development, pollution and bycatch. The turtles are usually fairly gentle giants, but can deliver a bone shattering bite if disturbed, and are extremely strong and powerful. In one bizarre case, a huge leatherback, likely weighing over 1500 pounds turned its aggression toward a small boat and charged it. The turtle had just been chased by a shark, so the boat was considered a threat.
Mata Mata Turtle
South America’s Amazon is famous for its incredible and sometimes disturbing creatures. Sharing the rivers with Piranha and River Dolphin is the unearthly Mata-Mata Turtle. The fate of a human who stepped on a Mata-Mata has not been well tested, but the bizarre river reptiles have an elongated, snake-like neck with a strange mouth filled with two sharp plates that resemble human fused teeth. Prey items of these extraordinarily creepy exclusive carnivores include waterbirds, fish, and other reptiles. We could only imagine the effect on a boater who reaches towards the bump in the water…
The Big-headed Turtle is a bizarre chelonian species with a long, snakelike tail nearly the length of its body. This turtle is native to Southeast Asia, where it hunts for a variety of prey items in the rivers. The large head cannot be retracted into its shell, and carries immensely powerful jaws. The turtle will not hesitate to use its bone shattering beak if a threat is perceived, so it is best to keep your distance. The Asian Soft-shelled is, incredibly, capable of climbing trees, where it may perch, birdlike. Sadly, this awesome creature is at risk due to poaching, which must be combatted with increased diligence.
Soft-shelled Turtles
Looking like flattened, human/reptile hybrid out of an alien horror film, Soft-Shells make up for their shell shortcomings with a very hard bite. Among the many species of Soft-Shelled Turtles worldwide, the Cantor’s Giant Softshell, native to China is the most terrifying. It hides in the sand, waiting for prey, before striking out with sharp teeth. The sheer size and power of the bite could lead to horrendous injuries. However, this species is unfortunately now endangered, but more abundant species of soft shell such as the Florida Soft Shell occur in numbers worldwide and may chomp unwary fisherman.
Nile Monitor
The Nile Monitor shares the Nile and other African rivers with crocodiles, growing up to 9 feet in length. This terrifying lizard often preys upon the young crocodiles as an addition to its mammal and bird diet, and possesses an extremely powerful, infectious bite. When threatened by humans or other potential intruders, a Nile Monitor can seize with a viselike, bone shattering grip, which it is reluctant to release. The giant reptiles are sold as family pets, but owners should be cautious with reports of serious injuries and the fact that these lizards can “snap a cat’s neck in an instant and then swallow it whole”. Children should remain well out of reach of these lizards, as an attack is a possibility with such predators.
The Gila Monster is North America’s largest lizard at over 2 foot long, and is the only one that is venomous. Gilas are endangered and protected by law, but humans who interfere may become endangered themselves. If disturbed, a Gila Monster may latch on to the offender’s legs or arms, where it sinks its teeth in, quickly releasing a dose of extremely potent, neurotoxic venom. A number of deaths took place before greater awareness of the dangers and treatment options became known. Lacking fangs, the Gila will hold on with great force to a human hand, slowly chewing up the flesh, leaving a mangled, venom soaked mess. Submerging the monster in water may force it to let go, stopping the carnage.
Malayan Water Monitor
The Malayan Water Monitor is the second heaviest lizard in the world, and lurks in the rivers and deep swamps of Southeast Asia. The lizard has backwards curving teeth, and is known to feed on…dead bodies. If a living human fell into the water where several Water Monitor were feeding, it is very possible that the reptile’s hunting instinct would be activated by the vulnerability of the human, provoking an attack. Water Monitors are capable of feeding on a wide range of animals, and have little trouble with large prey, weighing over 150 pounds in some cases. Length may reach…9.5 feet.
Alligator Snapping Turtle
The Alligator Snapping Turtle is the world’s largest freshwater turtle, and by far the most dangerous. Weighing over 200 pounds, the bizarre looking reptile has a cone covered, dinosaur like shell, and a massive beak that will cleanly amputate any body part brought near it, and is capable of severing a broom handle with lightning speed. A swimmer accidentally treading nearby could easily lose part of a foot. Although deaths have not been confirmed, drowning may have occurred undetected. A hypothetical report of a 400 pound snapper is supported by the continued growth of this species throughout its lifespan, which may reach 200 years.
The Komodo Dragon stalks the forested lowlands, beaches and plateaus of Indonesia, posing a threat to nearly every living thing as a prehistoric apex predator. The 10 foot, 300 pound beasts are the largest lizards on Earth, forming microcosm of a prehistoric world where reptiles ruled. Komodos feed on prey as large as water buffalo, and have attacked, disremembered and consumed humans. Such large prey items are charged and knocked down, followed by a vicious attack involving large amounts of flesh being removed. The toxic saliva and bacteria will weaken an animal that does not die right away. Scientists have theorized the Komodo evolved to feed on now extinct dwarf island elephants.
Ron Harlan is a wildlife enthusiast and fan of incredible, dangerous or animals. He does freelance writing covering fascinating and scary wildlife, conservation and oddities.
Top 10 Fascinating Insect Impostors
10 Unbelievable Cases Of Animal Smuggling
Top 10 Formidable Birds of Prey
Top 10 Fish That Hunt Land Animals
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Leslie A. Lindsay
Always with a Book: Writer, Dreamer, Do-er
Today’s Interview
SPEAKING OF APRAXIA
Wednesdays with Writers: Historic ‘dummy boards’ come to life in Laura Purcell’s eerie double-historical Gothic ghost tale, THE SILENT COMPANIONS; braiding time periods, woman’s mental health in the Victorian era and so much more
By Leslie Lindsay
A Gothic, foreboding Victorian ghost story set in a crumbling mansion among dual-historical time periods.
Already published to rave reviews in the U.K., Laura Purcell’s THE SILENT COMPANIONS (Penguin Books, Trade Paperback Original; on-sale March 6, 2018) is a mesmerizingly creepy Victorian Gothic that will have you staying up all night—and perhaps checking to make sure your door is locked!
When Elsie Livingstone marries Rupert Bainbridge, she is believed she is destined for a life of luxury. He’s handsome, a bit older than she, and quiet handsome. But he dies shortly into their marriage. Elsie finds she’s pregnant and alone in her late husband’s crumbling family estate Somewhere in England (near London, I assume).
The family estate is not very inviting. The servants are resentful and a little rough around the edges. The villagers are suspicious of the old place and feel it’s cursed; they refuse to work there. Elsie has only her deceased husband’s awkward female cousin, Sarah for companionship…or does she? Could there be other ‘companions’ inhabiting the home, too?
Told in alternating POVs and thus time periods, in addition to St. Joseph’s Hospital/the asylum, one gets a thrilling reading experience piecing these tales together.
Plus, the actual ‘companions,’ are a real historical artifact/antique I was unfamiliar with, leading me in search of more information. [They originated in Holland and were popular in 17th-century Europe]. Whenever a book propels me to do a little digging, I consider it a good read.
I loved the gloomy setting, the skittish maids, the old house, those locked doors, journals from the past…truly, this book packs quite a punch. The reading experience is a little slower than typical ghost stories and tales of suspense, but I think that has to do with the time periods being depicted. THE SILENT COMPANIONS is a fabulous read for a rainy night at home with a roaring fire.
So, join in welcoming Laura Purcell to the blog couch:
Leslie Lindsay: Laura, this tale blew me away! I had never heard of these ‘companions,’ the eerily lifelike wooden figures the were popular in 17th-century Europe. It seems like something one might uncover on “Antiques Roadshow,” but I don’t think I ever have. How did you discover them and was that the spark for the novel, or were your inspired by something else?
Laura Purcell: I’m so glad you find them as creepy as I do! I discovered ‘companions’ completely by chance, when a friend of mine was exploring a stately home. She sent me a picture of an antique wooden figure and asked if I knew what it was. I had no idea, but my immediate feeling was that the figure was unsettling. After some research, we discovered it was a dummy board, often called a ‘silent companion.’ They could be used as fire screens or elaborate practical jokes. Illusions and trickery played a large part in the entertainment of the upper classes in 17th century Holland, where they originated. Taking advantage of dark interiors, people would position candles to make the ‘companions’ appear real and surprise their friends.
I knew at once that I wanted to include such an unusual historical detail in one of my novels. But the ‘companions’ were so uncanny, it became clear that my story would need to be a scary one – which was a brand new challenge for me!
L.L.: The atmosphere in THE SILENT COMPANIONS is gloomy, dreary, and ominous. Parts of it reminded me of REBECCA—as in Bainbridge being slightly reminiscent of Manderly. It also reminded me of Shirley Jackson’s THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE. And then, there were parts that had a CANTERBURY TALES feel. Maybe it were the 1635 sections that gave that impression. How did you determine the time periods you used in the book: 1865/66 and 1635? In a sense, it’s akin to a double-historical fiction. And was there a time period you enjoyed writing more than the other?
Laura Purcell: I absolutely love both REBECCA and THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE, so I’m delighted to hear this!
Since THE SILENT COMPANIONS was my first ghost story, I was keen to set the main action in the Victorian era. It’s such a perfect period for tales of the supernatural. Firstly, you have a society where the mortality rate is high and there is an almost obsessive focus on funerals and mourning rituals. Then you have the rapid rate at which scientific invention was taking place. People were seeing steam engines and photographs for the first time. It must have seemed like magic. So the spiritual theories that developed seemed quite reasonable – if it had become possible to send messages by telegram, who was to say mediums could not knock a message to the dead? I was a bit more familiar with this [Victorian] period, so it was probably my favourite to write in.
But my Victorian heroine needed a ghost to haunt her. Since the ‘companions’ originated in the 17th century, I wanted the spooks to come from this time. Mid-century, we had huge upheaval in Britain with the English Civil War and various witchcraft trials, so this gave me a lot of material to work with.
Of course, I’d then set myself the huge task of writing these two interweaving stories in separate time periods – which wasn’t easy!
L.L.: Similarly, did you write in a linear fashion, that is, start to finish, or did you write certain sections (1635, 1865/66; and the asylum) bits separately and then splice them together?
Laura Purcell: It was really difficult to write. I plotted out how I wanted the stories to entwine but then I wrote each time line separately. My aim was to make sure each had its own distinctive ‘voice’ so that it wasn’t confusing when the reader switched time periods; they would know from the narrative style where they were. Once all the strands made sense on their own, I put them together and sharpened the links. Another task was cutting away in the right places: making sure the reveals from the past came at the right time, and that the pace of the book overall was building suitably.
“An atmospheric, eerie Victorian gothic novel.”
L.L.: Do you ever ‘write yourself into corners,’ and how do you work yourself out?
Laura Purcell: I’m not sure that I do, I try to plan as thoroughly as possible in advance to avoid that situation. But I do have times when the writing is going badly, or just not flowing. The only way I’ve found to fix that is to push on through it.
L.L.: Can you tell us more about the house, The Bridge? Where, exactly is it located (I’m not sure it’s stated, but I could have missed it; I’m assuming outside of London). I’m fascinated with architecture.
Laura Purcell: It’s intentional that the location of The Bridge is never revealed. I wanted it to feel remote and off the map. I also didn’t want to limit myself geographically to certain types of foliage, wildlife etc. The village of Fayford and the town of Torbury St Jude are also entirely fictional.
The house is Jacobean in style and was once magnificent. By the time Elsie reaches it, decay has set in. I based the floorplan on a real stately home, but the outside was my creation, made up of the architectural details I liked best. At the heart of the mansion are its magnificent gardens, which become essential to the plot.
L.L.: I’m always, always interested in mental health/illness, too. I am intrigued with your depiction of Elsie’s mental issues, but also those of her mother-in-law. What research did you do in order to capture the time period in terms of women’s place in society and also the way women were treated in relation to their mind?
Laura Purcell: As Wilkie Collins highlighted in THE WOMAN IN WHITE, Victorians could commit their relations to private asylums with relative ease. Obviously there were people who genuinely needed help, but you do wonder how many were put away simply for convenience. Women in particular were at danger, as they were considered more nervous and unbalanced by nature. Rather than ‘embarrassing’ their families in society, they could be neatly hidden. Since repression and secrets are major themes for the novel, I felt the asylum needed to be in there.
My original view of Victorian asylums was that they must be grim, terrifying places, but research showed me attitudes were shifting. Even in Broadmoor, the institution for the criminally insane, treatments were becoming more humane, focusing on finding useful occupation for the patients rather than punishing treatments. I tried to convey this through my character Dr Shepherd, who is sympathetic to Elsie’s plight.
Elsie has endured genuine trauma. But it struck me that any woman acting erratically and claiming to see ghosts would arouse questions about her sanity. In this case, she has also suffered bereavement and is carrying a baby. These would be huge warning signs of ‘hysteria’ in the eyes of a Victorian man.
L.L.: What’s keeping you up at night? What’s obsessing you?
Laura Purcell: Not ghosts, luckily. I have some pretty tight deadlines at the moment, I worry about them.
L.L.: Are you working on anything new?
Laura Purcell: Always! My next book is called THE CORSET. It’s about a seamstress who claims to have a supernatural power to hurt people with the clothes she makes. And I also have something else Gothic in the pipeline … more to come!
L.L.: Laura, it’s been a pleasure. Is there anything I forgot to ask, but should have?
Laura Purcell: No, but thanks for having me!
For more information, to connect with the author via social media, or to purchase a copy of THE SILENT COMPANIONS, please visit:
Twitter: @spookypurcell
Order Links:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Laura Purcell worked in local government, the financial industry, and a bookshop before becoming a full-time writer. She lives in Colchester, the oldest recorded town in England, with her husband. Fascinated by the darker side of royal history, Laura has also written two historical fiction novels about
the Hanoverian dynasty.
You can connect with me, Leslie Lindsay, via these websites:
Facebook: LeslieLindsayWriter
Twitter: @LeslieLindsay1
Email: leslie_lindsay@hotmail.com
[Cover and author image courtesy of Penguin/Random House and used with permission. Image of exterior Broadmoor & women’s dormitories, 1867 courtesy of Reading Libraries via, image of firescreen dummy boards from, misty garden from; pig dummy board from, others from Pinterest and no source noted; image of Jacobean style home retrieved from , image of feathered pen from, UK paperback editions from L. Purcell’s website; all retrieved on 3.8.18]
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Leslie Lindsay
CREDITS & ACKNOWLEGDGEMENTS:
Leslie Lindsay is the award-winning author of SPEAKING OF APRAXIA (Woodbine House, 2012). Her work has been published in Pithead Chapel, Common Ground Review, Cleaver Magazine (craft and CNF), The Awakenings Review, The Nervous Breakdown, Ruminate's The Waking, Brave Voices Literary Magazine, Manifest-Station, The Mighty, and the International Bipolar Foundation. She has been awarded as one of the top 1% reviewers on GoodReads and recognized by Jane Friedman as one of the most influential book reviewers. Since 2013, Leslie has interviewed over 700 bestselling and debut authors on her author interview series. Her "Reader's Response" was published in the September 2019 issue of Poets & Writers. Leslie is a former child/adolescent psychiatric R.N. at the Mayo Clinic and has attended writing classes at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Northwestern University. She resides in the Chicago area. ARTIST'S STATEMENT: I have always been drawn to the gnawing questions that focus on identity and belonging, with (dis)placement and (up)rootedness. I am interested in place and how that shapes us, as well as the interstitial connection of family, dysfunction, home, and the symmetry and parallels of nature. I think of those spaces of where we exist—what we’ve inherited--as distinct from where we belong.
Gnarled. Gnawing. Mysterious. Majestic. #alwayswitgabook #amreading #amwriting #nature #naturephotography #trees #winter #january #ilovetrees #branches #treesofinstagram #treeoflife #treesbranches
This book is up next! THE LOOK-ALIKE by @erica.spindler.author about a woman investigating a decade-old unsolved murder, a mother suffering from paranoid schizophrenia... and so much more. Coming from @stmartinspress Jan 28. Happily hosting the #author on my Wednesdays with Writers series Jan 31. ✨www.leslielindsay.com✨ #alwayswithabook #amreading #bookreviews #bookreviewer #interviews #authorsofinstagram #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #psychthriller #mentalillness #mothersdaughters #murder
Loops, curves, teardrops, curvilinear... #alwayswithabook #amreading #amwriting #architecture #architecturephotography #architecturelover #architectureloverspics
Kinda can’t get enough of this... #alwayswithabook #architecture #architecturephotography #architecturelovers #thatview
Herringbone and porticos. #alwayswithabook #architecture #architecturephotography #architecturelovers #portico #mansions #design
Help!! Can’t find my face... #alwayswithabook #readingbuddydog #basset #bassethound #wrinkles #thatfacetho #bassetmom #bassetmoments #bassetude #tireddog #plumtuckeredout #beautysleep #donotdisturb
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Web+Mobile
R&D centers in Ukraine
Facebook Application Development: Why And How
Technological development is at its height. In 2004, another social media tool has been developed. This social media tool was founded to facilitate the exchange of information across countries for several reasons. These reasons are to inform people of recent societal developments, to view peoples’ opinions, and to cause societal interaction in a massive manner. This social media we are referring to is the ever popular Facebook.
The Need For Facebook Application Development
Millions of people all over the world now have accounts on Facebook and they use this social media platform on a daily basis. What makes people get hooked to Facebook is the so-called Facebook apps or Facebook application. These applications were formed through Facebook application development. Facebook application development is needed so that customers will be able to interact with a more unique and consistent social media environment.
Facebook application development is also pursued in order to generate traffic. This is helpful for purposes of social media marketing. Facebook application development is also a matter of business. In here, high profile companies coordinate with social media for advertisement. Hence, we can safely say that Facebook application development is done not just for the benefit of the social media. Alongside Facebook development is the aim of making attractive and catchy advertisements. Thus, it can be said that Facebook application development is a collaboration of both the social media and brand or product owners.
Facebook application development involves a wide range of Facebook applications. For now, there are varying Facebook music applications, Facebook dating applications, Facebook horoscope applications, Facebook games applications, Facebook Utility applications, and much more. Some recent products of Facebook application development are discussed below.
Best Facebook Application Development Examples
Facebook has millions of fans around the globe. It won’t take too much to pay back their participation. For this purposes, Booshaka was established. Booshaka is an application which resulted from Facebook application development. This application highlights fans’ participation on another’s Facebook page. More points will be awarded to fans that make posts on your wall, or comment on and like your posts.
Another product of Facebook application development is the Birthday Calendar. With the Birthday Calendar, you can keep track of your friends’ and fans’ birthdays. You will be allowed to post greetings on the birthday celebrant’s wall.
Post Planner is another Facebook application which allows you to schedule posts or notes for your Facebook account. This can be utilized through other scheduling support tools like TweetDeck, SocialOomph, or HootSuite. Post Planner also comes with a white label version. This version will enable you to customize your application name.
Another product of Facebook application development is Where I’ve Been. Where I’ve been is an application that allows you to see the different parts of the world online. With this app, you will get to see world maps, and spin to different states and cities that you like.
Finally, there is this Facebook application called Scribd for Pages. Scribd for Pages is an application which allows easy uploading and sharing of files. These kinds of files, which can be shared through this app, include PDF, XLS, PPT, DOC, and JPG formats. This is a document sharing device where people can share files within the Facebook community. The document or files shared can also be conveniently viewed and downloaded.
Andrew Karachyntsev
February 25, 2012 in Letzgro Tech
February 25, 2012 | application development|facebook|social network
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workshop_201505
Organisational introductions
Changing perceptions
Pre-enactment
Third in a series of four scoping workshops, part of the Marine CoLaboration initiative on Valuing the Oceans, by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in London, UK.
Andrew Barnett, Louisa Hooper, Sarah Ridley, Sandy Luk, Andrew Farmer, Heather Koldewey, Aniol Esteban, Giles Bristow, Amy Pryor, Nicola Frost.
Facilitators: Maja Kuzmanovic, Vali Lalioti, Nik Gaffney
The workshop began with Louisa’s summary of her phone conversations with the participants. She quoted one participant: “I enjoy going for a long walk, but i also like to know there is a cream tea at the end of it.” The 'cream tea' might be different for each of the individuals For the Foundation the Marine CoLAB group needs to define what the 'cream tea' is for themselves. The outcomes could be single large initiative (a big idea to transform the future), or several smaller collaborations and partnerships. Defining the boundaries and scope of the collaborations likely going to be needed. Furthermore, the process itself is an element of the 'cream tea' as well: it’s important to provide a safe space to think and to test the thinking.
Plans until the end of 2015:
8 July, workshop that will build on the previous ones. As this workshop is coincident with NESTA labs conference, there might be speakers invited to speak about Marine CoLAB about their LAB approaches. By the end of this workshop it should be clearer what and how participants want to work on. The workshop is likely to start in the late morning (~11:30) and continue through dinner in the evening.
23/24 September (arrival 22nd evening, departure 24 evening or 25 in the morning). The aim of this trip is to get to know each other in a different context, to visit the study site (marine protected reserve), meet people at the CGF HQ and several Portugese NGOs.
11 November. In the evening of the Marine CoLAB there would be a showing of a (selection from) the CGF funded Marine film festival programme (in a small cinema in Shoreditch). There will be a discussion around valuing the oceans with lab members, funders and other invited participants (~40 in total).
Louisa ended with with a quote from "Playing for Time" by Lucy Neal, that described CGF’s view on what a lab approach should be: a liminal space where possibilities aren’t fixed and the participants inhabit a field of continuous transformation, where trying, failing and trying again is an encouraged practice…
Liminal space […] was tricksterish and, like Raven stealing fire from the gods, I learnt one of the secrets of the universe: up close, the laws of possibility are not fixed. They can be risked, experimented with and gambled on. Between the boundary of what is possible and what is not there is a field: a space of transformation the universe only releases in the dusty arena of action, trying, failing and trying again. The threshold between what is and what could be is rich in potential for change.
Andrew talked about the need to find balance between 'small incremental initiatives' and 'large ambitious scope', with lower level interventions (like short term experiments) feeding into big galvanising projects. It might be worth looking at other initiatives that are knocking at the Foundation’s door and using the Marine CoLAB as a sounding board. He urged the participants to ensure 'what we do plays to our unique strengths', for example the connection with Lisbon’s Oceans Initiative with their economic valuation studies, but also focus on communication, social investment, attitude change, (re)framing and public engagement. While working on smaller experiments, larger possibilities should be kept 'in the back pocket', keeping in mind the infrastructure needed to deliver these possibilities, e.g. setting up platforms and protocols to make the larger initiatives happen (c.f. Campaign to end loneliness)
Maja framed the third Marine CoLAB workshop with a twofold purpose: building on the themes and experiments from the previous workshops and deepening the connection with the participants’ organisational contexts and current work. While the first two workshops focused on introductions to individual personalities and talents, this workshop began with introductions to participants’ professional situations. The participants reflected on how their existing work can contribute to Marine CoLAB. After the introduction the participants moved into a discussion on the emerging themes of Systems Change, Changing Perceptions and Public Engagement. The discussion presented these themes as broad challenges for Marine CoLAB as a whole and looked at the relationship to the proposed (or new) experiments.
As part of a LAB approach we expect to have several feedback loops between the big picture and iterative experiments: while the first version of the experiments was designed in the previous workshop, it is useful to explore if and how the experiments develop the themes (and if they don’t, then adapt or leave the experiments behind). By the end of the morning the aim was to have a better grasp of the themes and their relationship to Marine CoLAB in general and the experiments in particular.
In the afternoon the group agreed which experiments they would want to develop. They could either continue developing existing designs or finding new ones. Before the designs were finalised, they were tested using a role playing exercise called a pre-enactment. The aim of this lab exercise was to test some of the participants’ assumptions from different points of view, in a safe space. The workshop ended with a design and planning session for groups to clarify their implementation plans (and be able to answer; “why, what, how, who and when” for each experiment). The aim was to provide a concrete action and reflection plan to finish the first small scale experiments by the next workshop, without losing sight of the big picture. The experiments should allow the participants to experience what it’s like to collaborate with each other, to learn their strengths and weaknesses, interests and expertise in a relatively low risk environment. This process also allows the participants to have (some) experimental results on which they can build sound conclusions and develop larger initiatives.
After the second workshop some participants voiced concern that we are not thinking 'big' or 'ambitious' enough, and there are others who feel we’re moving too fast and coming up with experiments too quickly. As a small reminder: the LAB approach is an iterative process that can encompass different rhythms at different times, ideally without losing perspective. With each iteration experiments can gradually expand in scope and complexity, while always being able to fall back on a previous, tested experiment, instead of failing massively or having to start from scratch.
Heather Koldewey, who was absent at the previous workshop remarked that there needs to be a clearer way to include any absentees in the experiments. She volunteered to follow up with two absentees to help them find ways they can contribute to the progress of the experiments. There also needs to be a stronger ownership of experiments and one or more people taking responsibility for moving the work forward.
Mirella von Lindenfels works at IPSO, International Programme on the State of the Ocean on strategy for negotiations, international diplomacy, regulation at international level, looking at deep sea mining, IUU regulations, chemical pollution & plastics in the oceans, etc. She is starting a new project which includes a large oceans communications campaign for the general public, using different target audiences and various ways to explain value of the oceans. The challenge is to balance economic, moral and ethical dimensions, which Marine CoLAB might help integrating.
Giles Bristow’s has at least three directions in his work at the Forum for the Future that could be relevant to Marine CoLAB. He is looking at how to reconceptualise supply chains as value chains or more non-linear value networks “Sustainable value networks”. This could provide be a lens to look at areas that can be changed, more helpful than an isolated finacial description. The second project is the “Scaling Impact Framework”, which presents building blocks that tend to be outside of control of innovators. Thirdly, he is working with the shipping sector to ask 'what does a sustainable shipping industry look like?' this includes technology and finance, such as the fund for North Sea.
Nicola Frost at Fauna and Flora International works on site-based safeguarding of marine protected areas & sustainable fisheries, with an interest in embedding site-specific work into a wider context (using a systems thinking approach). FFI are operational in 18 countries and work on access, finance, adaptive reflection and incentives for behavioural change. Their work includes community engagement and empowering local stakeholders through capacity building. Although their scale is quite local, they have an understanding of wider issues and look at how national and international challenges might impact the relationship between people and biodiversity. They’re interested in innovative approaches to the governance of marine protected areas, such as co-management in order to incentivise people and change perceptions. Their current focus is on fisheries, pollution, oil & gas. They believe in a constructive engagement with business, including impact investing, improving fishing practice, public/private funding models.
Aniol Esteban of the New Economics Foundation is interested in the fundamental change of economic systems that is required to deliver sustainability & social justice. His work is a balancing act between long term change & short term engagement ('daily corrections') to drive change, which involves a range of different strategies, from changing policy to finding new narratives, capacity building, etc. One of NEF’s key roles is speaking the language of economics. For example, working with economic models of the Common Fisheries Policy to understand sustainability, trade-offs, jobs, CO2e, profit, etc. They look at macro-economic structures that strengthen the economic capacity of marine conservation. A few examples are the 'Marine Socio-Economics Project' (http://www.mseproject.net), 'The blue new deal' restarting marine conservation conversation - prosperity of coastal communities and the EMFF, directing fisheries fund into the 'right directions'.
Sandy Luk at Client Earth focuses on rules, which include laws, but also include spoken and unspoken habits, conventions, codes of conduct etc. They defend the right of people and wildlife to a healthy life. They ensure that good rules are in place and that the rules are clear enough so people can can stick to them. If no good rules exist, they work on reforming them. For example, in the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP)they work to ensure that the wildlife rules (protected areas) are applied to fisheries (i.e. no exemption for fishing). If good rules exist they ensure their proper implementation. If the rules are broken, they can proceed to legal enforcement through the courts. They are also interested in finding gaps in rule systems and working on voluntary codes of conduct (e.g. sustainable seafood coalition (SSC) working with supply chain codes and labelling codes (defined terms and standards).
Andrew Farmer of the Institute for European Environmental Policy works on policy analysis of European environmental laws. They work with diverse organisations with an EU focus. They look at rules, gaps, implementation and implementation failures. Considering the complexity of EU regulation, they work on better structuring and formulation of EU environmental law. In the marine field, they work on TEEB analysis for policy makers and analysis of coastal zones. Their work includes training and economics. Andrew works on waste legislation, that has large gaps for marine litter. The gaps are related to 'historical legacy problems (e.g. the Baltic sea), whose effects on the policy need to be better understood and integrated in decision making. Recently they have been involved in the 'Greener Britain' UK environmental policy manifesto (see http://www.ieep.eu/assets/1417/Greener_Britain.pdf), but they usually work more behind the scenes.
Heather Koldewey heads the conservation programme at the Zoological Society of London. Her work is science based, with both an academic focus and work related to their two zoos. Their marine work focuses on protecting ocean wilderness, solving challenges at the interface of poverty & marine biodiversity, and species conservation (e.g. 'flagship species' such as seahorses). Their primary method is collaboration and finding new partnerships (beyond comfort zones and usual suspects). They focus on solutions to counteract the dominance of doom-and-gloom in marine conservation. See #oceanoptimism. There are many solutions out there, the question is how to find, replicate and scale what works. She focuses on connecting communities instead of re-inventing the wheel. Current projects include a collaboration with Selfridges, and a project with the manufacturer Interface to recycle fishing nets into carpets.
Amy Pryor works at the Thames Estuary Partnership, a neutral, non lobbying, non advocacy organisation. They are the secretariat for Coastal Partnerships Network, their work is hosted by the UCL Vice-Provost for research. This gives them the ability to convene multidisciplinary projects in areas of social justice, marine biology and engineering. Their geographic region extends from the tower bridge to the north sea (possibly up to Chelsea in the future). They are starting to move to EU level (c.f. water framework directive) and work with national frameworks such as the 'catchment based approach' which proves problematic around London (terms of reference). They are involved with Thames Estuary 2100 (TE2100), looking at flood defences to protect London over the next 100 years (including new wetlands) not just for humans but for all species. They work to engage social communities through projects and partnerships, looking at bottom-up co-management, small scale interventions and societal change through apprenticeships and curriculum of the 'River Academy' (transferable skills learned from environmental projects).
Sue Ranger of the Marine Conservation Society was absent, so Louisa mentioned her work with the 'community voice method' bringing new narratives from different views in films, allowing people and their issues to become real to each other.
1. Marine conservation isn't a constraint to economic development: One of the widespread misconceptions of marine conservation is that it is a constraint to economic development. In order to change this perception there should be a stronger, more visible link between 'natural resources' and economic arguments. For example:
There are strong economic arguments to increasing the health of a natural asset which connects to human livelihood (eg. job creation, see Gone fishing experiment designed at the March workshop).
Being in closer contact and having more interaction with marine protected areas can make a difference in resource management. Where is the onus of resource management in various places? How to bring the ocean closer to the people? Working with communities with tenure over resources can help. There is always a 'champion' who takes initiative, surrounding communities take notice, which can be a potential source of replication. although it can be quite slow. Locally, awareness could be raised, e.g. that London boroughs are all 'coastal' wrt. Thames estuary.
The perception of marine conservation being a threat to economy is not shared globally, for example in the Philippines marine protected areas (MPAs) are considered aspirational, as something that needs to be invested in. How can this diversity of views be made apparent worldwide? How can diversity of views contribute to diversification of livelihoods? How can successes be scaled up? It often looks like there is only 'dabbling' in alternative livelihoods, with a lack of 'viable alternatives'.
How to get over the meme that 'environment is always a cost to business'? How to prove the benefits of marine conservation and show that it is productive?
Different connections to business should be explored. There is much talk of 'blue growth'. Is this a threat or opportunity? What are possible levers?
There are lessons be learned from climate change, where new biz models, innovation wrt. 'solutions' are being developed.
Look at market-based options for capturing value (economic, environment, social, etc)
Demonstrate solutions on the ground can help to change peoples ideas
Once a solution is identified, replication becomes an issue. There are different methods to either work with individual 'pollinators' or community→community replication, but both are quite ad-hoc and often rely on geographic connections. Are there ways to make this more systematic, more trans-local?
2. It is about more than just cost/benefit: Cost/benefit analysis provides a skewed method for understanding trade-offs or long term changes. The relationship between costs and benefits often tend to be skewed toward immediate cost reduction: *small costs often over-ride large benefits*. There is a need to change this perception especially for *decision makers*, to allow them to look at the broader picture than the narrow cost/benefit analysis. Which *tools* could they use to include the big picture in their equation? To better understand long term effects? See Valuing what matters experiment designed at the March workshop.
A widespread post-GFC perception is that the “environment is a luxury” and revealing 'hidden value' in economic terms has a limited impact (c.f. healthy food). The long-term nature of marine conservation is a challenge from an economic perspective. MPAs work, but in many cases have a time frame that is seen as 'too long' (i.e. at least 5~10 years) to establish, that is usually longer than political and economic cycles.
3. Marine NGOs are not just animal lovers: If marine NGOs are seen as more concerned about animals than people only small part of the population is reached. Furthermore, businesses see the work of Marine NGOs as generally being 'bad for business'. More contact with businesses, speaking the language of economics and engaging diverse communities could help change this perception. In the previous workshop, The Charm Offensive experiment was designed to tackle this issue.
What does Marine CoLAB mean by 'systems change’? Systems change can be brought about by looking at a common issue and collaborating from different perspectives for multiple benefits, through a set of interventions and multiple ripples. There are many different systems related to the marine environment. It’s interesting to map them as they are, as they have been and also look at how they could change. Environmental, economic and governance systems, local and global systems are all intertwined in valuing the oceans. Which systems are working, failing or in need of change? Does one have to be out of the system in order to change it? How much can change be made from within? Where are the meaningful boundaries? Are they linked to geographic concerns, shared issues, involved sectors…?
Systems change can happen through collaboration, by actively looking for 'windows of opportunity' in wider discussions, grassroots initiatives, disruptive business models, etc. The best practices need sharing, especially successful scaling and replication initiatives. A systems-level observation is a way to keep track of relations between deliberate actions. This type of observation makes it possible to find key points of influence, access and change.
Are there common issues (or a single issue) that links all players in the Marine CoLAB? See System Change experiment designed at the March workshop. For example:
Sea bed mining issues
Plastic pollution: how to analyse it from a systems perspective? could all Marine CoLAB participants use their skills and resources to tackle this issue? how to leverage and transfer best results? can we link water frameworks directive and marine strategy directive using 'litter' as an indicator?
In energy production there are interesting developments related to community owned resources. what are the corresponding developments in the marine environment?
Legal issues: what are the individual cases? are there precedents? how can cases be scaled? What to do with the double pincer of 'top down' legislation and 'bottom up' moral decisions?
Once common issues (or a common boundary) is identified, the group can work on finding opportunities that connect all participants. In the previous workshop one of the experiments was designed to map a range of systemic levers existing in the Marine CoLAB, using tools like horizon scanning (of big trends and emergent issues), common interests, tipping points, audiences… This mapping exercise is meant to take on a strategic, forward looking approach to identify a potential focus for the group.
In the area of public engagement Marine CoLAB is competing for attention. The competition is strong and diverse - there are many 'causes', communicated as being the most relevant, urgent and important to people’s lives. How to deal with that? There are frames and frameworks that have proven their worth. Sometimes extremely well planned initiatives can work, other times ad-hoc, surprising and unpredictable actions can work just as well (e.g viral media spread). When it works well, public engagement influences a shift of tone, so people can begin to speak differently about an issue, which changes discussions leading to a change of attitudes. SkyTruth is an example of public engagement using satellites (“if you can see it, you can change it”).
Public engagement relies on serendipity and can act as harmonic shifts or tidal waves across society. The aim of public engagement is a long term change of a general mindset (and therefore linked to “changing perceptions”). With changing mindsets comes a value shift which can lead to radically different decision making. To instigate a value shift public engagement must move beyond singe interventions, towards portfolios of opportunities based on a clear set of long-term messages and 'lines in the sand'.
To engage the public in a meaningful way, it should be clear who the target audience is, in what are they being engaged, and how, when and where will they be engaged (e.g. divestment re. marine destructive biz, new biz models, etc). Citizen science (including science games, simulations etc.) as a method of engagement has a lot of potential in both public engagement and changing perceptions. It is important that the public has an agency that extends beyond the game or the individual intervention of another sort, to provide new, changing narratives (which can be translated into long term plans) and paints a picture towards a preferred future.
In the previous workshop the Game On! experiment was designed to explore public engagement with rules using a game. The hypothesis was that the public could be best engaged at various specific points of legislative process. This would be explored through a game where players would learn about the legislative process and the consequences of different decisions at particular times. The underlying theme was to help clarify people’s relationship to the ocean. In the game there could be progressing levels of engagement, from understanding the problem and then moving to solutions. Games asre seen as having a lot of potential, but it is a potentially difficult channel (kids growing up with games). Games which are seen as 'blatantly educational' are often problematic. Different types of games appeal to different ages and genders, so the challenge would be to create a game which rovides an engaging understanding about the big picture. The journey of the users of the game should extend well beyond the game itself and provide opportunities for changing mindsets in their daily life.
Several new topics for further experiments and/or feasibility studies were proposed, two of which were selected by the group.
Two new experiments:
Transparency of Marine Industries and blue divestment
Plastic pollution from a systems change perspective.
A single-use plastic-free London
Business against litter / Action on oceans: sustainability is good for business
Two experiments from the March workshop that continue to be developed:
(Online) Game On!
FLAG: TEP & NEF collaboration (related to Gone Fishing and Charm Offensive experiments):
Workshops to influence fishermen to diversify from trawling to static gear (in the Thames), planned for June
Meet a marine conservationist / Meet a fisherman (getting marine NGO staff closer to fishermen’s reality and vice verse)
Other ideas: 'Blue Gym’, Co-management, local solutions/ 2 voices, Electric fishing
Further ideas for experiments:
Existing NEF work: diverting public funds (ie EMFF) to right things; positive reallocation of capital to ocean S.D., New economic models (unreadable)
Making the marine economic case transparent (e.g. Blue Growth)
Proposed issues for tackling systems change: sea bed mining, aquaculture…
How to replicate solutions? For example "It’s happening": “collecting signs of the shift to a low carbon world: find your favourite and shout it from the rooftops” #itshappening
The role of conservation champions/local leaders
Non-usual partners to motivate and demo solutions (e.g. livelihood diversification w/BD unreadable)
Changing the natural unreadable (on energy/oceans)
In the pre-enactment (a role-playing exercise of a situation that could happen in the near future) the two experiment teams met their key stakeholders (played by other participants) whom they wanted involved in the follow-up of their successful experiments.
Scenario: You have just concluded your successful Marine CoLAB experiment and have presented some of your findings at a prestigious public event. After a long day of presentations, you are hosting a dinner for some people you'd like to involve in a new project. This project will take your experiment to the next level. You would like these people to be involved in the design of your initiative, but you may still have more questions than answers. The dinner is held on a nearby island. There is a 15 minute ferry ride during which you will have a chance to talk to your stakeholders, answer their questions and find potential partners, funders, or anything else you may need for your Marine CoLAB initiative to succeed.
Feedback from 'stakeholders':
On Plastic Pollution: look at economic arguments, check if the issue and approach are too 'niche' and examine how to achieve larger systems change; many questions require clearer answers; the format of the public event should take into account the stakeholders; learn to listen better and pay attention to group dynamics… more feedback
On Transparency of Marine Industries: work on clarifying the messages, look at feasibility, capacity, possible conflicts of interest and sensitivity of information, listen to the needs of your stakeholders… more feedback
Following the pre-enactment the experiment teams were invited to incorporate the feedback into their designs and to proceed to make the concrete implementation plans until the next workshop. The plans until July 2015 can be found on the experiment pages:
Plastic Pollution implementation: a feasibility study and public discussion panel
Transparency of Marine Industries implementation: Mapping and scoping the state of the art in (marine) transparency initiatives, as well as determining key environmental indicators.
The experiment teams will take the lead on their respective tasks, and will invite all Marine CoLAB participants to contribute information, expertise, research, contacts and feedback. In the July workshop the progress and possible follow-up will be presented, discussed and evaluated.
some workshop_notes
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Home / Blogs / Comrade Motopu's blog
Against mirror world: fascists were not socialists
A couple of excerpts from the work of scholars of fascism against the notion that the fascists were socialists.
Anyone who has ever argued in person or online with Republican, alt-right, fascist, white nationalist, or the myriad overlapping identities of the Right today will recognize a few standard ahistorical moves they use to “win debates.” One is to bring out the “Black Book of Communism” whereby the body counts of state-capitalist, Stalinist, and Maoist, regimes are held up to show that “communism” has killed elevendy jillion people while capitalism has saved an equal amount, and simultaneously spread freedom, democracy, and wealth. The intent is never really to criticize these (state capitalist) regimes, but to prove capitalism is the only possible system a sane person would choose. A supporting argument notes that “capitalism is human nature” so stop pretending anyone who was not brainwashed by cultural Marxists at the University has a legitimate gripe with it. The vast majority of the people defending capitalism as freedom cannot tell you how capitalism works.
Especially popular these days are what I think of as the “mirror world” arguments. In our world we know capitalism is a system in which a ruling/owning class expropriates the surplus value of the labor power of the working class. Capitalism is a redistribution of value and wealth upward to a small dominating class. In mirror world, genius entrepreneurs and business people are “creatives,” “job creators” and “risk takers” whose “work” creates all wealth. The rest of us benefit from the hard work of this “John Galt” class. If you work hard you can be a boss someday, or a useful person like Kylie Jenner or Steve Jobs. Socialists “spend other people’s money” so they can drive the economy into the ground by giving out free stuff no one earned. It’s the people in urban areas, illegal immigrants, spoiled college students, feminists, and intellectuals who contribute nothing to society who get in the way of the normal functioning of such a perfect system.
Coming back to the subject of fascism, today the mirror world arguments depict antifa as violent thugs attacking peaceful marchers who only wanted to celebrate free speech. Antifa, or anyone in the street confronting white-nationalist wildings are the “real fascists.” Stormfronters, KKK, American Guard, Sons of Odin, Proud Boys, Rise Above Movement, White Aryan Resistance, Identity Evropa, Patriot Prayer and other groups who, together, mobilize fighting units to attack cities, terrorize and beat leftists, and demonize immigrants while calling for their deaths, are the Enlightened pro-democracy forces pushing against censorship and for civility. And aren’t the Proud Boys multi-ethnic, thereby proving they can’t be fascists? Never mind that Imperial Japan’s leaders were fascist, or that today’s Hindutva nationalists in India are fascists. Proud Boy Tiny Toese is Samoan! Who cares that he wears a “Pinochet Did Nothing Wrong” shirt? The “Right Wing Death Squad” line of clothing, is of course also not fascist in any way. “Pinochet killed zero people because communists aren’t people” is the Proud Boy line. If you see interviews with Proud Boy fighters, they usually portray themselves as under attack by hysterical communists, with themselves in the familiar Chris Kyle (“American Sniper") role of the “sheep dog” fighting off the wolves to protect the herd (good, normal, Americans).
One of the most popular mirror world arguments posits that fascism has always been a leftist movement, anti-capitalist, and even socialist. These arguments often cite Nazi rhetoric used to appeal to the working class in the 1930s (and Trump also appeals to them today) from speeches on “the workers” or against bankers. They also like to bring up that Mussolini was a socialist (but leave out the part where he rejected socialism for nationalism) as evidence that fascism has always been socialist.
Here is Dinesh D’Souza whose anti-historical “research” often reads like a manifesto from a mass shooter, cherry picking data from left and right sources to make completely unhinged arguments:
“But the most notable thing about, not only Mussolini’s Black Shirts, but about the National Socialists in Germany is that above all, They. Were. Socialists! They were socialists. Mussolini started out as a Marxist. He was the editor of the socialist journal in Italy. And so again, on the issue of fascism, in the 1930s and 40s, fascism and Nazism were widely understood to be left wing. They were understood that way by Mussolini, by Hitler, they were understood that way by FDR and by the New Deal. They were understood that way by reporters writing about the period. But after World War II a very interesting thing happens. Fascism becomes right wing. Right wing. This I want to suggest is another big lie. It is essentially the result of a kind of an intellectual sleight of hand in which after the war, when the horrors of National Socialism are now manifest for the world to see it becomes imperative to move fascism into the right wing column and pretend like it was some sort of excrescence of capitalism. That fascism was some sort of invention of the business community. Whereas in reality it arose out of an argument within socialism.”
-Dinesh D’Souza, “Socialism Into Fascism - The Left Is And Always Was The Problem” from Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jPaq86OnJs
So I thought it might be useful just to post what a couple of historical scholars of fascism have to say about whether fascism is either anti-capitalist or socialist. I don’t expect people on the far right to be persuaded by historically grounded arguments, but with such grounded sources, those on the left can better define our own goals in opposition to fascism and its progenitor, capitalism.
Excerpt from Robert O. Paxton’s The Anatomy of Fascism:
Another supposed essential character of fascism is its anticapitalist, antibourgeois animus. Early fascist movements flaunted their contempt for bourgeois values and for those who wanted only “to earn money, money, filthy money." They attacked “international finance capitalism" almost as loudly as they attacked socialists. They even promised to expropriate department-store owners in favor of patriotic artisans, and large landowners in favor of peasants.
Whenever fascist parties acquired power, however, they did nothing to carry out these anticapitalist threats. By contrast, they enforced with the utmost violence and thoroughness their threats against socialism. Street fights over turf with young communists were among their most powerful propaganda images. Once in power, fascist regimes banned strikes, dissolved independent labor unions, lowered wage earners’ purchasing power, and showered money on armaments industries, to the immense satisfaction of employers. Faced with these conflicts between words and actions concerning capitalism, scholars have drawn opposite conclusions. Some, taking the words literally, consider fascism a form of radical anticapitalism. Others, and not only Marxists, take the diametrically opposite position that fascists came to the aid of capitalism in trouble, and propped up by emergency means the existing system of property distribution and social hierarchy.
This book takes the position that what fascists did tells us at least as much as what they said. What they said cannot be ignored, of course, for it helps explain their appeal. Even at its most radical, however, fascists’ anticapitalist rhetoric was selective. While they denounced speculative international finance (along with all other forms of internationalism, cosmopolitanism, or globalization—capitalist as well as socialist), they respected the property of national producers, who were to form the social base of the reinvigorated nation. When they denounced the bourgeoisie, it was for being too flabby and individualistic to make a nation strong, not for robbing workers of the value they added. What they criticized in capitalism was not its exploitation but its materialism, its indifference to the nation, its inability to stir souls. More deeply, fascists rejected the notion that economic forces are the prime movers of history. For fascists, the dysfunctional capitalism of the interwar period did not need fundamental reordering; its ills could be cured simply by applying sufficient political will to the creation of full employment and productivity. Once in power, fascist regimes confiscated property only from political opponents, foreigners, or Jews. None altered the social hierarchy, except to catapult a few adventurers into high places. At most, they replaced market forces with state economic management, but, in the trough of the Great Depression, most businessmen initially approved of that. If fascism was “revolutionary," it was so in a special sense, far removed from the word’s meaning as usually understood from 1789 to 1917, as a profound overturning of the social order and the redistribution of social, political, and economic power. (Paxton. The Anatomy of Fascism, P.10-11)
Excerpt from Ian Kershaw’s The Nazi Dictatorship dealing with the continuity of the class system under Nazis:
The emphasis has, therefore, been far more heavily laid upon the essential continuities in the class structure of Nazi Germany, rather than upon incisive changes.
Schoenbaum himself had accepted that the social position of the elites remained relatively unscathed down to the last phase of the war. He may, however, have rather exaggerated the extent of the fluidity in social structures and the amount of upward mobility which took place. Of course, it is true that thrusting, energetic, ruthless, and often highly efficient ‘technocrats of power’ such as Heydrich or Speer pushed their way to the top. And the war certainly accelerated changes in the high ranks of the Wehrmacht. But the new political elite co-existed and merged with the old elites rather than supplanting them.
Non-Party preserves such as big business, the civil service, and the army recruited their leadership for the most part from the same social strata as before 1933. Education remained overwhelmingly dominated by the middle and upper classes. The most important and powerful Party affiliation, the SS, recruited heavily from the elite sectors of society. If the traditional ruling class had to make some room for social upstarts from lower ranks of society who had gained advancement through positions of power and political influence, such changes amounted to little more than a slight acceleration of changes already perceptible in the Weimar Republic.
At the other end of the social scale, the working class-- deprived of a political voice, its social gains of the Weimar Republic reversed, and exposed in the shadow of mass unemployment to the brutal exploitation of employers backed by the repressive apparatus of the police state-- had its living standard reduced in the first years of the Third Reich even from the lowly level of the depression era. The slight rise in real wages in the later 1930s was a by-product of the armaments boom, and was accompanied by intensified pressure-- physical and mental-- upon the industrial workforce. The class position of workers remained basically unchanged into the middle of the war-- except that the most extreme exploitation now fell upon foreign workers.
The most significant changes in the nature and composition of German labour occurred in the last phase of the war and were, in the main, the consequences of military service, losses at the Front, destruction of industries, dislocation of the workforce, evacuation and homelessness, and ultimately foreign conquest. Whatever changes had taken place by 1945 were, therefore, a product of Nazism’s collapse more than of its policies while in power. (Ian Kershaw, Nazi Dictatorship, 175-176)
Comrade Motopu
Robert O. Paxton
Whenever fascist parties acquired power, however, they did nothing to carry out these anticapitalist threats. By contrast, they enforced with the utmost violence and thoroughness their threats against socialism.
Comrade Motopu's blog
He went on: “They will overturn everything that we’ve done and they’ll do it quickly and violently. And violently. There’s violence. When you look at antifa, and you look at some of these groups, these are violent people.”
from Trump warns of ‘violence’ if GOP loses midterms in private talk with clergy – report
President reportedly heard urging ministers to sway voters and alluding to leftwing violence in leaked audio
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/aug/28/donald-trump-midterms-pr...
I had written this up as a response to various online tallies of communism's death count which were listed as a defense of capitalism. It's from memory, jotted down, and so any quibbles or qualifications, even disagreements are welcome:
A very partial list of deaths caused by capitalism. It's more than ever in vogue to go to the "Black Book of Communism" and whip out ahistorical decontextualized statistics and body counts for "communism." It's not that I have any desire to defend Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot or others, but that in historical context we can't come to the conclusion that the "antidote" to tyranny and death is capitalism, a system completely intertwined with those deaths and many many more.
Just a very partial tip of the iceberg listing of some capitalist caused deaths. I'll leave off the roughly 9 million people who die of hunger every year in the capitalist global system, an obviously failed system.
First, neither Stalin's Russia, nor Mao's China were communist. If you define communism as workers control over production, abolition of wages as a tool of the owning class extracting the value of workers, abolition of classes, and of markets, obviously we haven’t seen a communist society yet, except in brief moments like Paris 1871, Spain 1936, and a few others. So your totals from State capitalist regimes are sad and horrifying but have little to do with communism. What we have in the Soviet Union for example was a state bureaucracy functioning as a ruling class, extracting value from labor of a working class inside a hideous totalitarian gulag/police state. That was state capitalism, and now Russia is just extreme western style capitalism with more open gangsterism and state control overlaid. The revolutionaries were successful in crushing the repressive monarchy of the Tsar, but the Bolsheviks then took over the revolution and ushered in a one party state capitalist regime with Stalin as the final symbol of defeat. Mao’s “Cultural Revolution was neither cultural nor a revolution and you can read Simon Leys, the foremost critic of Maoism to see that Mao ruthlessly crushed communist formations inside China as he attempted to industrialize the country to compete with capitalist powers.
There are other important totals to look at as well. Mike Davis has written about “Late Victorian Holocausts,” with the example of the British Raj killing 30 million Indians from the mid 19th century to 1900. This was due to the destruction of traditional systems of emergency distribution that existed under the Mughals. Production had been forced into mono-crops, and exported to ports for the world market via British built rail systems. The British ruling class saw the mass famine as “Darwinian winnowing” of a subhuman species.
A bit earlier, the British capitalists had killed a million Irish in a potato famine, even though there was more than enough food being produced to feed them and millions more. It had to be shipped out to markets for profit though, so it was ok just to let them die.
David Stannard and countless other historians put the Native American genocide at around 100 million. If we look at other scholars estimates of non-disease related deaths they go down to about 15 million in “democide”, mostly in Latin America a great center of capitalist encomienda production by the first major capitalist colonial power, Spain, and also Portugal.
At least 2 million black slaves were killed directly in the Atlantic middle passage of the early emerging capitalist economy, but the devastation created inside Africa, as is well known, destabilized much of that continent down to the present day. Hard to calculate the suffering or body count there.
Adam Hoschild’s King Leopold’s Ghost showed 10 million Congolese killed in his “Free State of Congo” to supply rubber to the west for bicycle tires.
World War 1, was as is not in dispute, a war between imperialist powers to control colonies, labor, resource, trade routes, etc. 41 million casualties and of those, 18 million were deaths. World War II, the continuation and settling of that war saw 70 to 85 million. World War 2 would never have happened were it not for the capitalist Great Depression which saw the rise of the previously disappearing Nazi Party in Germany, which started the war under Hitler, in a series of invasions that brought another total war with the reaction to the invasion of Poland. It was mostly between belligerent capitalist empires as was World War I. All of the empires had already racked up millions of corpses, and sadly, the fascists were not exceptional in that regard. But there's no question that fascism is a defense of the capitalist state, and that it's main enemy was "communism." Fascists crushed workers unions and brought them under control of the party and capitalist state.
The US invasion of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, killed roughly 3 million, mostly from illegal secret bombings. The resulting destruction of civil society in Cambodia led directly to the rise of the Khmer Rouge. Unless you think those things are somehow unrelated?
The US led UN Security Council sanctions against Iraq killed one million including 575,000 children, according to Unicef. The 2003 invasion has since created about a million more “excess deaths,” according to the British Medical Journal the Lancet and many other studies.
About 250,000 Filipinos died in the war of American invasion of 1899-1902.
Renowned economist Amartya Sen’s research concluded that about 100 million “extra deaths” resulted since the implementation of the “capitalist experiment” in India in 1947 up to 1979.
I'll stop there.
They really stick to those talking points! A young woman courageously stands up to some College Republicans and they unleash both the "Nazis were socialists, it's in the name" and the "Socialists have a way higher body count" canards. She dispatches their asses to hell, despite their teaming up on her and relentlessly pushing her buttons. Well done sister!
https://twitter.com/PollackHunter/status/1058430411188133889
Singlejack solidarity - Stan Weir
Introduction to L’operaio americano (1954)
Manifesto on the Russian Revolution
The Zazous, 1940-1945
Anarchism in Korea: independence, transnationalism, and the question of national development, 1919-1984
Origins of the job structure in the steel industry - Katherine Stone
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Librarian Laura's Great Reads
Book reviews of upcoming and popular books, both YA and Adult Fiction
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Tag / YA book review
11/30/2019 by LibrarianLaura
Stealing Home by Becky Wallace
Adult Fiction book review, Clean & Wholesome, YA book review, Young Adult
Baseball, Book Review, Clean & Wholesome, clean romance, minor league baseball, Romance, Tame YA Romance, YA book review, YA Fiction, Young Adult Fiction
Originally published in School Library Journal, June 2019.
Gr. 6 & Up: Seventeen year old Texas teen Ryan Russell knows baseball. Her parents, though divorced, share ownership of the Buckley Beavers minor league team, keeping her busy with a goal to become general manager. Ryan’s assisted with new players before, but Sawyer Campbell is refreshingly different. A 1st round draft pick from Georgia and son of a watermelon farmer, Campbell is hardworking and smart. He’s easy on the eyes, too, but Ryan knows the strict rules on dating players. Both teens futures are uncertain: financial trouble for the watermelon farm and a possible sale of the Buckley Beavers. As they spend time together, Ryan receives praise and respect like never before, making it difficult to stick to the rules and stay out of the rumor spotlight. Teaming up with Sawyer seemed like a great idea until the walls Ryan has put up start to crumble. Will they be able to salvage the team and their relationship before the final inning. Themes of baseball, family, and first love are woven together with rich, realistic detail due to the author’s own background with minor league baseball. VERDICT: Wallace’s contemporary, lighthearted romance is squeaky clean and will appeal to both tweens and teens.
The Voice in My Head by Dana L. Davis
YA book review, Young Adult
Book Review, Death, diverse fiction, Family, medically assisted death, Mental Illness, realistic fiction, Road Trips, Seattle, Sibling Relationships, Suicide, Teen Fiction, Teens, terminal illness, Twins, YA, YA book review, Young Adult, Young Adult Book Review
Originally published in School Library Journal, May 2019.
Gr. 9 & Up: Davis’s second YA novel set in Seattle, follows 18 year old black twins Indigo and Violet and their chaotic family on an unlikely road trip. While attempting suicide, Indigo hears a voice say that her terminally ill twin Violet will live if she hikes the Wave, a 2 ½ mile scenic rock formation in the Arizona desert. Unsure whether the voice is God or a symptom of a concussion, Indigo bravely pleads to her family before Violet’s medically assisted death plans unfold. Thanks to a resourceful Pastor, Jeb, everything falls in place allowing the family to set off in a rainbow-colored paratransport bus covered in eyeballs. Pastor, the twins, their retired parents, a 16 year old brother Alfred, and 33 year old nurse practitioner sister Michelle and her husband and biracial children are a motley group of passengers, seeking healing for Violet’s pulmonary fibrosis. From kidney stones to an attempted robbery with a paintball gun, there is never a dull moment for the Phillips family. Indigo’s perspective of herself and her family changes along the way, allowing her acceptance and hope. The writing is refreshing and characters relatable. Though the novel tackles heavy subject matter of terminal illness, mental health, and death; light-hearted, comical scenes make for a heartfelt, yet entertaining read. VERDICT: Readers of diverse realistic fiction will enjoy the sibling banter, unique characters and authentic dialogue.
Waiting for Fitz by Spencer Hyde
Book Review, Family, Grief, Guilt, High School, Loss, Mental Illness, OCD, Psychiatric Hospital, Psychiatrists, realistic fiction, Schizophrenia, Seattle, Teenage Mental Illness, Teens, YA, YA book review, YA Fiction, Young Adult Book Review, Young Adult Fiction
Originally published in School Library Journal, March 2019.
Gr 9 & Up – Midway through her senior year, 17-year-old Addie Foster is sent for inpatient psychiatric therapy at Seattle Regional Hospital for OCD. Quick-witted and literary-minded, she dreams of being a playwright. Making some unlikely, but unique friends from the first day of group therapy, Addie accepts that she needs help, while handsome, mysterious Fitz is desperate to leave after two years of treatment. Grieving and guilt-ridden, Fitz, a schizophrenic, mentions San Juan Island and the name Quentin, but not offering any details to Addie. Unlike Addie, whose supportive mother visits, Fitz’s mother blames him and has never visited. Innocent romance sparks for Fitz and Addie, their shared passion for literature kindling their companionship. When the truth of Fitz’s past is revealed to Addie, she is forced to take a painful look at their relationship and her own future. The ending is hopeful, albeit a touch predictable. Author Spencer Hyde, having spent much of his high school years in inpatient therapy for severe OCD, provides an accurate, honest rendering of teenage mental illness. VERDICT: Fans of John Green and Jennifer Niven will enjoy this realistic, yet PG portrayal of some heavy subject matter.
Fame, Fate, and the First Kiss by Kasie West
acting, actresses, Book Review, clean romance, Dating, famous people, High School, kasie west, movie sets, realistic fiction, Romance, teen book review, Teenagers, tutors, YA, YA book review, Young Adult Fiction, zombie films
Originally appeared in School Library Journal, February 2019.
Grade 9 & up – The second in a three book companion series, this realistic fiction, set in Los Angeles, is written as a standalone novel with crossover characters. High school senior, Lacey spends her days covered in elaborate zombie makeup on set, playing the love interest of famous heartthrob, Grant James. Grant is hot and he knows it, but he and Lacey lack chemistry on set of the campy horror film, Dancing Graves. Lacey begrudgingly and occasionally completes her schoolwork in between filming. When her overprotective father hires a tutor, she heeds his advice to buckle down and finish school in case acting isn’t always an option in her future. Donovan Lake, her easy-on-the-eyes tutor, at first seems uptight and lame, but as she spends more time with him, her math grade isn’t the only thing progressing. Working on set brings Lacey into some unfamiliar social territory, but she manages to make new friends. When odd coincidences that could jeopardize Lacey’s acting career keep occurring, she must decide who to trust and be willing to look out for her own happiness. Snippets of movie script are included between chapters, allowing readers to feel like they are on set with the characters. Recommended for purchase to enhance a clean young adult romance collection. VERDICT: Fans of Jenny Han and Sarah Dessen will enjoy this light-hearted, wholesome romantic comedy which would make a great Netflix film.
05/01/2019 09/27/2018 by LibrarianLaura
The Competition by Cecily Wolfe
Abuse, Book Review, Clean & Wholesome, College Planning, Competitions, Friendship, Ohio, realistic fiction, Secrets, Sexual Assault, Teens, Writing, YA, YA book review, YA Fiction, Young Adult, Young Adult Fiction
Originally appeared in School Library Journal, November 2018.
Grade 7 & Up: A diverse cast of characters take part in the Penultimate, an Ohio state writing competition, where 100 teens battle for a full college scholarship. Mary Sofia (a Latina) lives in a shelter. Her mother blames her for the unforgettable, tragic night her abusive stepfather was killed by her older brother Matias, as he protected Mary Sofia. She longs to visit Matias in prison, missing him dearly. Michael, Caucasian, is an introvert who excels at swimming and writing, who is instantly attracted to Mary Sofia. Camera who is shy and biracial carries a secret of being sexually assaulted during a party. Raiden is a Chinese American teen who dreams of becoming a nurse, though his father would rather he be a doctor. The four young people conveniently pair up into couples, forming a foreseeable cozy group for the remainder of the story. One of the contest themes is writing about “a defining moment,” which forces both Camera and Mary Sofia to finally come to terms with their painful pasts. The story line is realistic with hints of tame romance. After an unlikely turn of events for the new friends, the predictable yet hopeful ending offers each an unexpected chance at a brighter future. Compared to other realistic teen fiction, Wolfe’s second novel falls short in pacing and writing quality. Themes of friendship and typical teenage behaviors are represented well. VERDICT A strictly additional purchase.
Purple Hearts by Michael Grant
1944, Battle of the Bulge, Battles, Book Review, bravery, DDay, Friendship, Front Lines trilogy, Historical Fiction, Michael Grant, military service, Nazis, Purple Hearts, Series, Silver Stars, Trilogy, War, war heroes, World War II, WWII, WWII Fiction, YA, YA book review, YA Fiction, Young Adult, Young Adult Book Review, Young Adult Fiction
Purple Hearts is the final book in the Front Lines trilogy by Michael Grant. This young adult historical fiction story takes place in 1944. Though the Battle of D-Day at Omaha Beach, the Battle of the Bulge, and the depiction of German death camps is written with historical accuracy, the one twist in the story is that it takes a place in a world where women are drafted into military service right along with the men. For this reason, the series focuses on three main female characters from the first book when they start out as recruits, through the second book where they receive Silver Stars for bravery and to the final book where they have earned Sergeant status and Purple Hearts. Rio, Rainy, and Frangie (Doc) courageously fight through excruciating conditions and never-ending days of battle, in which the harsh realities of war are not sugar coated.
Rio, a Sergeant and the first woman to receive a Silver Star recipient, has a boyfriend (an army pilot named Strand who cares more about himself than anyone else), but she begins to develop feelings for Jack, one of the soldiers under her command. This makes for a bit of romantic angst in the midst of so much war, which I rather enjoyed.
Fellow Sergeant and friend, Rainy, is undercover in Nazi-occupied France in order to get closer to the enemy and destroy some of their ammunition stockpiles. She joins forces with the maquis, forming an unlikely partnership in which the end goals are the same. Rainy is a Jewish American who is both bold and brave, not afraid of her mission at all.
Frangie Marr, known as “Doc,” is a black Army medic from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her religious Southern upbringing bodes well for her “bedside manner” with wounded soldiers, making her a friend and favorite to many. Though she is dealing with “separate but equal” segregation back home, as a soldier she is equal, allowing her to really make a difference, saving and comforting wounded soldiers with a fierce, brave tenacity that is unparalleled.
The writing is well-researched as Grant seamlessly weaves together the narratives from Rio, Rainy, and Doc, along with some other lesser known characters that are important to the storyline. Being the final book in the trilogy, the way the author provides closure for each of the characters taking readers through to the end of the lives is well-written and most appreciated, allowing readers to see that the war wasn’t the end for these brave young women. They had so much life left to live and enjoy after serving selflessly for their country. Also included between the narratives are letters written to many of the soldiers from family members they left back home, which really brings the characters to life even more.
Even though it’s intended for a young adult adult audience, it would certainly appeal to adults who enjoy military fiction. The battles and violence are graphic and bloody and the dialogue includes quite a bit of rough language, so I would not recommend this book for younger teens or middle grades. Fans of Ruta Sepetys and Chris Lynch will enjoy this series.
A sincere thank you to the publisher for the review copy of this book.
Hide with Me by Sorboni Banerjee
Abuse, Alcoholism, Book Review, Debut Novels;, Drug Cartels, Family, Football, Friendship, Hide with Me, Hiding, High School, Mexico, Romance, Small Town Life, teen book review, Teen Fiction, Texas, YA, YA book review, YA Fiction, YA Thriller
Recently released in November 2018 by Razorbill, Hide With Me, a debut novel by Sorboni Banerjee, is a captivating YA thrill ride which I could hardly put down once I had started. Clearly I’m not a young adult, and I would recommend this for both teens and adults.
This book has a bit of everything it it: romance, suspense, family issues, and thrills for days! The plot is gritty & compelling with vividly drawn characters, urging readers forward with breakneck speed. If it were a movie (which it would make a fabulous one, by the way), I would call it a “nail-biter.” Boy meets girl. Boy hides girl. Girl has just barely escaped with her life. Now boy and girl are being hunted.
17 year old Cade, star football quarterback in the small town of Tanner, Texas, has a lot to deal with. His sole focus is being the best he can be on the field so he can get out of Tanner and away from what’s left of his family. His mother left and his father has been drinking and smacking around Cade ever since. On his way home one evening, he and his dog Hunter stumble upon a young girl broken and bleeding in the cornfield. Cade’s instinct is to call for help, knowing she doesn’t have much time, but the two words she whispers, “hide me,” and terrified look in her eyes urge him to do as she asks. Someone hurt her and will be back to finish the job.
He brings Jane Doe, “Jane,” to an old barn on the far edges of his farm, one that hasn’t been used for years and a place he goes to escape when his father is using Cade as a punching bag. As Jane starts to heal and make a plan to escape North before those looking for her can find her, Cade is able to get only small details about her past. He wants to help her, but she’s like a scared rabbit, afraid to trust anyone. Jane has spent her life in foster homes. She got in with the wrong crowd, and ended up in Mexico with a boyfriend who was working with the drug cartel. Now she knows too much, and the leader of the drug cartel, vicious and ruthless Wolf Cub, wants her dead. She knows that Cade and anyone else who tries to help her is putting themselves in terrible danger. But something about the way Cade cares for her and spends time with her makes a tenderness stir in her that she’s never felt before. Talk about a predicament!
I promise you’ll love this book. The story moves along quickly, snowballing into a whopper of an ending. What an awesome debut novel; I look forward to future books by Sorboni. I can’t wait to share it with my students!
Thank you to Penguin Young Readers Group for providing me with a review copy of this title.
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Summary for the month of August, 2019
Here’s a summary of activity for the month of August, 2019.
I don’t know where time has flown! It’s already been a month since my last summary, and it’s already September!
I think I mentioned that I’ve been having some contractors at the library working, and that’s been going on for several months. Well, things got worse over the last month. It’s really a cliché, but too true, that it’s been a bit of contractor-from-hell around here. It’s been really difficult to focus on anything else whilst this has been going on. Unfortunately, it’s not over. It has just entered a new phase.
Meanwhile, as difficult as it has been, I’ve been managing to keep working on the library site, even still. And, posting quotes I highlighted from books I’ve read, along with book reviews, and keeping social media posts going.
I’ve been getting submissions for the next anthology as well! That’s showing progress. Most of the submissions tend to come in at the last minute, so that’s on pace; but I always have high hopes that things will work out. The deadline for submissions is the end of the month, and I’ll know more when I get there; but, I am still, of course, seeking new and returning artists that want to participate, as well as still looking for a cover artist for this year.
But, guess what?! This month marks the 10th anniversary of when I took over Hermetic Library. Back in September 2009, after the site had been dormant for many years, Al Billings transferred the site to me. I’ve been working on it ever since. Looking back, so much has happened! I’ve put so much time and effort into the site, and, yet, there’s still so much to do. It really has turned out to be an ongoing passion project for me. I’ve been extremely lucky to have the support of many people, especially ongoing Patrons, who have helped make my work possible and kept the library going and growing.
Will you join me in celebrating this milestone?
When you think back, so many sites that were around and active 10 years ago aren’t there anymore, or have gone silent. I know I can think of quite a few! The library has gone through changes too, but I’m still at it, making improvements, adding materials, and trying new things.
Sure, there’s been setbacks, and disappointments along the way. It’s been a struggle to keep going, to be honest. But there’s also been so much to celebrate and I’m thankful to each ongoing supporter and every guest of the site for the honor and privilege of keeping the site alive and growing.
What an amazing, engaging, ongoing adventure! Huzzah!
Don’t forget! I’ve posted the call for submissions to Magick, Music and Ritual 15, the anthology for 2019.
I’m obviously looking for audio tracks, but also cover artwork, and other bonus downloads! Will you participate this year? Know someone who might want to participate? Let them know about it and have them get in touch with me!
Still looking for help and others to join me in a working community around the library, of course.
Lots of new pages and work on old pages on the site, which is pretty much every week, really. You can always check the front page of the site which shows the most recent changes and new pages, or check out the Recent Changes special page for a full list.
Want to join me on this blog and create new art or writing for Hermetic Library? Pitch your Idea.
Help get some conversations started over on the BBS.
Be sure to check out the actual Hermetic Library, and subscribe on Bandcamp or become a Patron.
Here’s a summary of posts on the blog from the last month
Gnosis — Review
The one sure road to trouble, she’d say, is to get mixed up in the middle of a fairy quarrel. — Quote
The Grand Design — Review
There’s a city ordinance against eating an elected official without a permit. May I see your permit …? — Quote
Conan the Raider — Review
As for Sirius, he is truly the pearl of the cosmos. — Quote
Romantic Image — Review
So much of what magicians have taken for granted this century stems from the work of the Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley. Much of what will constitute standard magical theory and practice in the next century will derive from the state-of-the-art ideas and techniques currently under development in Chaos Magic. — Quote
The Devil’s Footsteps — Review
“Vile, depraved souls!” he shouted, trying to remember where he’d left off. “Fools and harlots!” But it was no use. His diatribe had devolved from insulting to incoherent. — Quote
Does the New Testament Imitate Homer? — Review
He said nothing: seldom do those who are silent make mistakes. — Quote
A Princess of Roumania — Review
This is my fault for being the departmental computer guy: when the machines break, I wave my dead chicken and write voodoo words on their keyboards until they work again. — Quote
He knew then there was no going back. All paths were closed to him except the plain horror of the present. — Quote
And then she took her wishes with her into sleep. — Quote
The Rune Oracle — Review
Your entire life, your very being, your physical body, indeed, every ongoing living process must be a talisman of the nature of your Angel. — Quote
The Rosicrucian Enlightenment — Review
“Is Jane magic?” Martha whispered to Katharine. “I don’t know. I think so,” Katharine whispered back. Jane glared at them. They went for two blocks in silence. “Are we magic, too?” “I don’t know. I’m scared to find out.” — Quote
The Rites of Odin — Review
So what is the nature of this library? What function does it serve other than being a filing system for books? What, to use the phrase beloved of cultural criticism, does it say about me, and to whom is it addressing this message? — Quote
The R’lyeh Text — Review
I poured out another glass of exercise wine and set my mind to it. — Quote
Much of my rebelliousness starts with indifference to what is urgently important to others. — Quote
The Prophet — Review
“Oh, my,” she said, her heart racing. “You are a bad little kitty.” — Quote
The Pathworkings of Aleister Crowley — Review
“No, we’re going to provide them with a valuable life lesson.” “Don’t trust strangers?” I suggested. — Quote
Omnium Gatherum: July 31, 2019
The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles — Review
He had a special feeling for what he called the “correct miscalculation,” for he believed that mistakes were often as revealing as the right answers. This gave us confidence even when our best efforts came to nothing. — Quote
This entry was posted in The Hermetic Library and tagged hermetic library, summary, summary of the month on September 2, 2019 by John Griogair Bell.
Summary for two weeks ending July 28th, 2019
Here’s a summary of activity for two weeks ending July, 2019.
Oh, wow. I just realized that I put June as the month on the last update, even though it was July. I don’t even know what, but that I’ve been so frazzled because of all the work being done. Still being done. It’s been almost a month now. I don’t see the end yet, and almost nothing that’s been started has been completed. Everything is in turmoil, but I’ve been getting work done on the site in the mornings before the contractors get here.
By the by, I’ll be making my list of all current Postal and Subscription Patrons for the next mailing soon! My schedule for that got all off as I’ve been flummoxed. But, I’ll be doing that list, and then plan on sending something out in the first few weeks of August to everyone.
Welp, I finished a bunch of new pages, and the contractors have arrived as I’ve been writing this. So, it begins again!
Help get some conversations started over on the BBS and in Chat.
Here’s a summary of posts on the blog from these last few weeks
The Occult Experience — Review
Shut up! How can you be so bad at secret societies? You’re in two of them! — Quote
The Occult and the Third Reich — Review
One church was sufficient for all. They knew nothing about heresies and schisms but assembled together to hear a simple story simply told. — Quote
The Nine Doors of Midgard — Review
Sometimes the Gods used Henry. It seemed like a fair trade-off. He had been known to use them, too. — Quote
Forged — Review
She had just, through dwelling on the shite of modern life, taken her seat in the waiting room for death. She spat on the ground and swore under her breath. — Quote
Mention My Name in Atlantis — Review
‘Where there’s a key,’ he said to himself, ‘there must be a lock nearby.’ — Quote
Briar Rose & Spanking the Maid — Review
Trust me, The Librarian’s no Willie Wonka. — Quote
Black Helicopters — Review
I looked to the back of my eyeballs as I tried to drift off in the waking darkness of my insomniac night, and then, it may seem crazy, but I popped out of my body as if on an elastic band. — Quote
This entry was posted in The Hermetic Library and tagged hermetic library, summary, summary of the week on July 30, 2019 by John Griogair Bell.
Here’s a summary of activity for two weeks ending July 14, 2019.
I’m in the thick of house rehab now, so just a short and belated summary for these last two weeks. Everything is moved around, and under sheets to protect it from dust from the work being done. It’s been ongoing and will continue for some time. Except when the power is shut off, for a short period or all day one day this week, I am able to get a good chunk of work done in the early hours of the morning before the workers arrive, but then I have to retreat. The library cats are freaked out, but doing okay, all in all. The struggle is real, but the work on the library continues in spite of adversity!
The Dark Labyrinth — Review
In making love with yourself, dedicate your pleasure to the Spirit. At climax, place the image of deity at the crown center, and open yourself to the sense of presence. — Quote
The Gospel of Philip — Review
Odd Jobs: so called not because they were varied or petty but because they could only be collectively described as odd; Missions into a world of mysticism, the occult and sometimes even the horrific and nightmarish. A world beyond a war, beyond man and his understanding. — Quote
The Wizard and the Witch — Review
Echoing all that has been written on and in favor of women, I am only trying to say that in the mystical and initiatory world “they do exist” also. — Quote
Omnium Gatherum: July 9, 2019
Hermetic History — Erase It or Face It — Review
In every dictatorship which is tottering, there is an urge towards destruction. Of self, if that only is possible. Of the world, if that is. — Quote
Gates of Light / Sha’Are Orah — Review
There is a ghost of a moral in the story of a sensual Caliph going to the bad, as represented by his final introduction to the Halls of Eblis. — Quote
Paths of Wisdom — Review
It’s like meeting yourself again and again, at the back of every dream, the author of every trip. We find each other and know each other over and over. — Quote
Astrology and the Seventeenth Century Mind — Review
Well, at some point, you almost just have to choose what you are going to believe or not believe. — Quote
Summary for two weeks ending June 30th, 2019
Here’s a summary of activity for two weeks ending June 30, 2019.
Lots of disruption around here lately as there’s been contractors working on necessary things. Fixing plumbing issues, mostly, right now. Though, yesterday, they did also knock off the top of the old disused chimney as well. So, lots of coming and going and banging and hullabaloo in the library bungalow. But, in spite of that, I’ve been able to continue working on things. Mostly my strategy has been that I get up really early, when it is quiet and less hot. I kinda do that anyway, but the “quiet and less hot” part is a particular bonus right now.
At some point, I’m going to have to, and it pains me to even think about this, pack up the entire library again so that I can move it out of the way for work on replacing ancient wiring, and on the walls and ceilings. I … feel like I had finally gotten to unpacking the library onto shelves just yesterday. But, not burning down like Notre Dame seems like a good thing devoutly to be wished.
I talked before about how I’d been thinking about, and ultimately decided on, closing the voice chat server. You can go back and read my thoughts about that, but I had decided to close it at the end of June. So, I did that. I close the server and put up a note that everyone should head over to Hrmtc Underground BBS instead.
Byzantine Magic — Review
As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport. Thunder again; words that proclaimed themselves true—truer somehow than truth itself. — Quote
Music and the Occult — Review
In magic—and in life—there is only the present moment, the now. You can’t measure time the way you measure the distance between two points. — Quote
Western Mandalas of Transformation — Review
I have been forced by extraordinary evidence to credit that which ran counter, diametrically, to all my theories. I have been made the dupe of a preternatural conspiracy. — Quote
Alchemical Works — Review
all symptoms are purposeful, whether they are positive or negative. — Quote
Tetragrammaton — Review
Is the progressive part of the world going to wait until the legally appointed guardians of the truth have found out the true value of the treasure in their possession? — Quote
Music in Renaissance Magic — Review
Knowest thou not that there is a belief in many parts of our native land that at particular seasons certain doomed men throw off the human shape and take that of ravenous wolves? — Quote
Summoning Spirits — Review
But, hey, this kind of thing’s going on in libraries everywhere, you know. More or less, that is. — Quote
Omnium Gatherum: June 17, 2019
This entry was posted in The Hermetic Library and tagged hermetic library, summary, summary of the week on July 2, 2019 by John Griogair Bell.
Over the last two weeks, I had family visit for a week (Hi, mom!). That was fun, and I ate out a lot, and, had a lot of good dark beer, around town and down in nearby Columbia.
But, as fun as that was, I also had contractors on site, looking at Hermetic Library World HQ … and, yeah. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done, and lots that should be done. Remember how Notre Dame went up in flames because of old wiring? Yeah, so, the library’s electrical is original, old, obsolete knob-and-tube wiring. Old wiring that is inefficient, ungrounded, and unsafe to be sure. There’s also work needed on the roof, a sewage leak, and structural issues. That’s just the stuff that needs to be done to be safe, up to code, and insurable.
Even though the library and my office where I work on the library takes up about 50% of the house, I really hesitate to do something like setting up a separate fundraising campaign to help with the house. But, wow, help would be amazing. To be honest, I really wish I had more Patrons to support the work I do every day. It’s been a struggle. I haven’t ever gotten to the sustainability goal I set that would help me be able to keep going, but I’ve still kept going, even still. If you’ve considered supporting the work, please do. Become a Patron on Patreon or a Subscriber on Bandcamp. I could really use the support and encouragement.
To be honest, I also have been really needing new glasses as well. My current prescription and glasses are all almost 10 years old. I did get an eye exam, and I’m still able to get to 20-20 with correction; but I haven’t been able to afford the cost of new glasses. I don’t live in a state with medical support, and even when I did, glasses weren’t covered. I do wonder about that as a separate campaign, an “Occulus Reparo” fund, if you will. I wonder if people would be willing to help with a pair of everyday glasses and maybe a spare with a reading prescription.
I’ve also dreamed off and on, on occasion, about what I could do with a Cricut or Glowforge or 3D printer, making things for Patrons as part of Postal Exchange, like vinyl cut sigils, Enochian chess pieces, and more. That seems like something, and I wonder if people would be interested in a crowdfunding campaign related to that, with perks that I’d make with those things; but that I could use to continue to provide nifty things.
Ugh. So many things I feel I could do that are just out of reach right now. I’ll keep thinking about those ideas, as I continue to be focused on doing the ongoing daily work of the library, improving existing pages, adding new content, and sharing links to all these resources with people following the library online.
Yeah, these things have been on my mind this last two weeks. But, wait! There’s more! (It’s been a busy two weeks!)
Welp, I did decide that I’d go ahead and close the voice chat server at the end of June. I think and feel like I should focus on the BBS for the kind of community activity that’s split between the two now in one place instead. Also, always big in my mind, is that the BBS is run on open source software and is self-hosted, which means, generally, that it is more likely to be sustainable and less subject to the vagaries of platform changes. So, do be sure to check out the BBS!
I’m still considering whether to move the Zine and submissions process into a mailing list or two for Patrons. I still have some thinking about that to do, including how best to organize it and host it, and if it makes sense to add that to the work I do every day on the library. It seems like it would be nice to have that going, but I’m still contemplating the idea. I think I also have to be honest and say that I have a mailing list already which I’ve not used much, and didn’t end up finding a place in my work flow; most of the things that I think about doing with the existing list, I’m doing elsewhere; so, I need to be sure that if I implemented a new list that it had a reason to exist, a purpose, and that it fits with everything else in a well rounded and well crafted way.
Oh, right! I did also get a Postal Exchange mailing on its way to Patrons with that perk. And I’ve got some other things in mind for the next thing!
Whew. I’m sure I’ve forgotten things that happened, and that I should mention as well, but there it is.
Access to Western Esotericism — Review
You and I have both known him, and I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say it’s an experience we shan’t ever forget. And even when he and I met in the middle of China, with his mind a blank and his past a mystery, there was still that queer core of attractiveness in him. — Quote
The Complete Golden Dawn Cipher Manuscript — Review
Riches she possessed, but that which enriches them, the participation of affection, was wanting. All that they could purchase for her became indifferent to her, because that which they could not purchase, and which was more valuable than themselves, she had, for their sake, thrown away. She discovered, when it was too late, that she had mistaken the means for the end—that riches, rightly used, are instruments of happiness, but are not in themselves happiness. — Quote
The Cube of Space — Review
Sitting around all night in a dark apartment with the TV and computer screens providing all the ambient light is bound to affect your perception after a while. — Quote
Byways of Esoteric History — Review
The passionate ecstasy that engendered his poetry was excited by the stark, pagan purity of his sensuality, which found its talismanic representation in the tower struck by lightning. — Quote
Robert Fludd — Review
I moved forward and out of my embracing surroundings, taking in a deep breath, knowing I was being admired by both good and evil. — Quote
The Manual of Harmonics of Nicomachus the Pythagorean — Review
I curse the engineer who thought this was a problem in need of a solution. — Quote
Self-Initiation into the Golden Dawn Tradition — Review
This entry was posted in The Hermetic Library and tagged hermetic library, summary, summary of the week on June 19, 2019 by John Griogair Bell.
Summary for two weeks ending June 2nd, 2019
Here’s a summary of activity for two weeks ending June 2, 2019.
New servers continue to hum along. I’ve seen much increased performance across the site since the migration, and that’s fantastic. It really was getting bad there in a number of ways, and this new server is so much better! The stress and pain of moving seems to have been completely worth it.
A stack of The Essadi Emissary newsletter from the Mahmoud Memorial Itinerant Temple, currently in Thailand, arrived at the library, and I’ve got those ready to head out to Patrons with the Postal Exchange perk, as of the end of May, and will be sent via post this week.
This last week I also announced the call for submissions to Magick, Music and Ritual 15, the Hermetic Library Anthology Album for 2019. Every year, to be honest, feels special, and these are one of the highlights of my year; but, this year, is the 50th anniversary of my birth and the 10th year I’ve been Librarian of Hermetic Library. I feel like this issue of the anthology is really a celebration for me of all that’s happened to get to this point, all the hard work, all the setbacks, all the successes. It’s been, as they say, a long strange trip. I hope the journey with the library continues another 10 years!
I already had one submission, which arrived before the call posted, so I hope that bodes well for participation this year!
Another small milestone is the 5 year anniversary of Hrmtc Underground BBS. I talk about that and a little bit of shuffling of categories in a post to Meta. BBS still doesn’t have a critical mass necessary for a thriving community, but it does serve several purposes, not the least of which is as a discussion area for posts on the Hermetic Library blog.
The fact that the BBS has an ongoing purpose has had me thinking a bit more about the Chat server I’ve been running for a while. I’m thinking of closing that down. It isn’t really being used much and just doesn’t serve a purpose. I had fun ideas for the voice chat space that would have been self-sufficient reasons to exist but those never panned out. But, to be fair, there’s more activity there now, comparatively, than there has been. So, I’ve struggled over whether to give it more time.
Ultimately, I suppose it could continue as a space for chit chat, but pretty much anything that the chat server is doing right now can be done on the BBS. The only truly unique thing is the ability to do voice chat, which I’d always hoped would become a space for live conferences, presentations, interviews, classes, and soever. But, I’m coming to realise that just isn’t going to happen, as I tried in the past to facilitate and encourage in the past but haven’t tried to do again. I think I should focus on the BBS.
To be clear, I’m not concerned about popularity, but the purpose of the place to the overall mission of the library. I mean, let’s be honest: if popularity were my goal, then I took a wrong turn at Albuquerque.
So, I think, unless I’m convinced otherwise, I will be closing the chat server at the end of June and encouraging everyone there to head over to the BBS instead! The BBS is where it’s at! Long live the BBS!
A Natural History of Hell — Review
Hermetic Library album call for 2019 submissions
The Last Days of Magic
Finding the right expression is always a fight: The writer in him wages battle against the editor; one is bold, the other—doubtful. They struggle inside him for control of his pen; one—to write, the other—to cross out. — Quote
Omnium Gatherum: May 30, 2019
Tarot Tales — Review
Staying with the Trouble
King was never anti-American; he was always anti-injustice in America and anywhere else. Love of truth and love of country could go hand-in-hand. — Quote
Blood in the Aether — Review
No one had ever managed an accurate count of the cats. — Quote
The New Satanists — Review
From the very existence of these books he learned one primary truth: that everything in the world was enveloped in great skeins of mystery into which one could bravely probe but which one could never fully untangle. — Quote
The New Satanists
“Are you denying what I have said?” the Major asked. “You have a handful of facts, Major, and from them you have made ridiculous conclusions.”
The Necronomicon Files — Review
This entry was posted in The Hermetic Library and tagged hermetic library, summary, summary of the week on June 3, 2019 by John Griogair Bell.
Today I am announcing the 2019 call for submissions for Magick, Music and Ritual 15, the next anthology album of tracks by artists inspired by or who incorporate ritual and magick in their work. These anthology albums help promote artists to the audience of the Hermetic Library and beyond. These albums raise awareness about the connection between ritual, music and magick. And, they are a mass of awesome fun.
Magick, Music and Ritual 15 will be the 2019 release from the Anthology Project. The deadline for submissions to the 2019 anthology album is September 30th, 2019. Be sure to stay tuned to the blog, social media, and the pages for the Hermetic Library anthology project for reminders and updates along the way.
Deadline for submissions is September 30th, 2019. Release is planned around the anniversary of the Hermetic Library’s birth on Dec 3rd, 1996.
Be sure to read through the terms and conditions for artist submissions to an anthology album (which includes some new and more specific information about acceptable file formats), and after that if you have any questions, comments or wish to contribute to this project; contact the librarian.
Please consider joining Hermetic Library in promoting your work by contributing to this benefit anthology album project. All proceeds from album sales will support the library to help cover hosting costs, materials acquisitions, and other expenses.
Check out all the previously released anthology albums, help spread the word about the Hermetic Library anthology project, and let those you think may be interested know about this new opportunity to participate.
Cover Artwork and Design
If you would like to make a proposal for the artwork and design of this anthology, please get in touch! Take a gander at all the other covers and consider joining the illustrious artists who have participated with their work on those anthologies.
Subscriber-Only EP
This year I’d like to create a subscriber-only EP as a special additional perk for those people who have subscribed to Hermetic Library on Bandcamp. This will be a few tracks on an exclusive release just for subscribers that will be released in addition to the 2019 anthology.
Bonus Download Submissions
If you are creating something else, and would like to be included in the anthology download as a bonus, let me know. I’m open to bonus artwork, essay, articles and … well, anything that can be included in a digital download!
Become a Patron or Subscriber
The best ways to add anthology releases and this upcoming Hermetic Library album to your personal music collection is to become an ongoing Patron at Patreon or Subscriber at Bandcamp. Patrons and Subscribers will each be offered a gratis download code for each new release while they are active in addition to other patronage rewards they may receive, and that ends up being the most cost effective way to get these albums. New Patrons and Subscribers get immediate access to a back catalog release, which means a full album when they sign up, and another when the new anthology is released. Consider becoming a Patron today!
This entry was posted in Hermetic Library anthology, The Hermetic Library and tagged 2019, anthology album, call for submission, hermetic library, magick, music, ritual on June 1, 2019 by John Griogair Bell.
Summary for two weeks ending May 19th, 2019
Here’s a summary of activity for two weeks ending May 19, 2019.
Big news this last two weeks is that I spent an entire week migrating everything to new servers, including one fully 12 hour day, and other grueling and worrying staged step-by-step days along the way. That’s totally behind the scenes stuff for the most part, so I’ll spare lots of the details, but the site should be noticeably faster, and several issues with indexes and searches should be resolved.
Server migrations, all things considered, are not the worst thing in the world, but, damn, y’all, it sure seems like the worst thing in the world whilst you’re doing it.
The new server is Abraxas and is dedicated to the library proper, by itself. I also migrated a bunch of things to server Buer, which is where the library blog and other things reside, and is steadily handling the additional load. Stolas, the server for the BBS, which took over from Barbelith a while back, is doing fine, thank you very much. There’s also another new server, Marbas, which is a place for other stuff I was still hosting for others, and not properly something library things runs on. Anyhow, everything seems happy and all are humming along so far.
Huzzah! And, whew!
In other news, this week thunderstorms caused a blackout at here at Hermetic Library HQ, but only long enough for me to fix lunch and then pull out enough candles to last at least a full month (I exaggerate, but only a little) … and, just an hour later, power was back. Though Internet was out for a bit longer. Slightly disappointed.
Everything gets so very nice, calm, and quiet when power goes out; with no buzzing, beeping or humming. Definitely advocate for “power down days” in general.
On the other hand, on the bright side I didn’t have to try to eat everything in my fridge before the end of the next day, and I briefly got re-acquainted with my massive CD collection whilst the power was back, but Internet still down.
Holy moly rock n’ roly! It’s only a few days until I post the call for submissions to Magick, Music and Ritual 15! Are you ready?!
By the by, as a reminder, May is the month of the anniversary of my birth. I’ll be 50 this year! Also, later this year, in September, will have been 10 years that I’ve been Librarian of Hermetic Library. Wild, and funny, both milestones will occur this year. All I want for my birthday and anniversary is a bunch more Patrons so I can keep doing all this and do more. Become a Patron so I can send you gifts for my birthday!
The Myth of the Eternal Return — Review
The Mystery of the Grail — Review
The Mysterious Stranger — Review
The Modern Witch’s Spellbook — Review
The Masters Revealed — Review
The Key of Evolution is Right Variation — Quote
Omnium Gatherum: May 9, 2019
The Masks of Odin — Review
The New Aeon will have a foundation of Happy Women — Quote
The Magick of Thelema — Review
Joy is replaced by drudgery and individuality surrendered to the social collective. Thus is life passed in stupidity. — Quote
This entry was posted in The Hermetic Library and tagged hermetic library, summary, summary of the week on May 20, 2019 by John Griogair Bell.
Summary for two weeks ending May 5th, 2019
Here’s a summary of activity for two weeks ending May 5, 2019.
I’m procrastinating over moving the website to a new server. The blog and BBS are on their own separate better servers from the website already, but that last time I tried to move the website was a bit of a technical fiasco and didn’t end up happening. It’s such a pain to do, and so many fiddly bits. But, those performance issues are real, and a struggle that is also too real. So, I’ve got to do it. Ugh.
But, I got Postal Exchange and Publication Subscription perks out to ongoing Patrons! This time with zines and tchotchkes from Praeterlimina.
Those are, even now, winding their way to Patrons in four countries across our wide earthy globe!
Sacred Mysteries — Review
The mind must make the heart articulate, and the body the temple of the soul. — Quote
Swords’ Masters — Review
To hell with this Verbotenism! — Quote
Dore’s Illustrations for Rabelais — Review
They bore witness, in a serious and ceremonious manner, to the unravelling of this union. — Quote
Holy Terrors — Review
It’s not unfun, and it’s better than nothing, but it still ain’t the real thing. — Quote
Mad Moon of Dreams — Review
… it is no longer individuals only, or cities, that enrich themselves by distant commerce and export; but whole nations grow rich at the cost of those nations which lag behind in their industrial development. — Quote
How to Meditate — Review
“Everyone knows,” the guide threw back over his shoulder. “They’re just too frightened to say or do anything about it.” — Quote
Cthulhu’s Reign — Review
You help yourself by helping others. There are no hermits in the desert unless they are thinking big thoughts that will eventually help others. — Quote
This entry was posted in The Hermetic Library and tagged hermetic library, summary, summary of the week on May 7, 2019 by John Griogair Bell.
Summary for four weeks ending Apr 21st, 2019
Here’s a summary of activity for four weeks ending April 21, 2019.
Oh, wow. I really thought I’d done a summary for two weeks, two weeks ago. I completely missed it! So, this, of course, covers all the four weeks since the previous summary.
Don’t forget that there’s a new special offer in April for active or new Patrons of Hermetic Library, for an extra $99 off Carolyn Elliott’s INFLUENCE: the life-altering course on mastering practical magic. This 10-week course is intended to help people achieve dramatic positive change in their lives through shadow integration practices and applied occult philosophy.
Become a new Patron of Hermetic Library now to get your $99 off coupon.
Check out this course at INFLUENCE: the life-altering course on mastering practical magic
I’ve been thinking a lot about how to improve how I’ve been doing things for Patrons with Postal Exchange and Publication Subscription perks. Last summary, I talked about some thinking I’ve been doing, and am still doing. I’ve also mentioned in some places I got a new booklet stapler, and I’ve been trying out making chapbooks. But, I’ve not been happy with the quality of the printing from my basic printer. So, one thing I’ve done in the last couple of weeks is to get a new laser printer.
There it is: a tale of two printers. The new one is monochrome. But, I’ve still got the other one if I need to do anything in colour. But a laser printer will have an overall better quality, and prints probably a bit more longevity.
Which is as much to say that Postal and Subscription perks are still coming, but have been held up as I’ve been sorting through how and what to do for them. I’ve pulled the list of everyone with perks as of March, through today, and will be getting something to everyone as soon as possible.
The past few weeks, in addition to other things, has seen lots of work on Magical and Philosophical Commentaries, with missing text from I and II newly transcribed and restored, with III on the way.
I’ve also started, as you may have seen, if you’re following on social media, changing up how I’ve been doing calendar events. For the past two years, I’d been posting those directly to social media; but this year, I’m folding those into new Hermeneuticon event pages for each day of the year. I’ve also started to include posts to social media about the recommended readings and correspondences from the Thelemic Tephilah.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been noticing some performance issues with the main library website. The overall site itself has been seeing some performance bottlenecks and within the site there’s some issues with some indexing of tags and issues with search indexes. So, I really need to migrate the site to a different underlaying platform, a different server. That’s always a huge pain. But, it’s something that needs to happen. Over the years, I’ve migrated the site several times, but, and I did actually try once previously but there were issues that required I abort that at the time, the site as it is right now, built on the Dokuwiki engine, is even more complicated than previous migrations. However, it’s been a nagging issue for a while, and recently seems to be even more pressing. I’ll keep on that as a project that’s coming soon.
By the by, as a reminder, May is the month of the anniversary of my birth. I’ll be 50 this year! Also, later this year, in September, will have been 10 years that I’ve been Librarian of Hermetic Library. Wild, and funny, both milestones will occur this year. All I want for my birthday is a bunch more Patrons so I can keep doing all this and do more. Become a Patron so I can send you gifts for my birthday!
Nietzsche Against the Crucified — Review
The following excerpt is taken from a thirty second YouTube video simply entitled, ‘How to Start a Mob’: — Quote
Omnium Gatherum: April 20, 2019
Lion in the Valley — Review
Preparing for a threesome is a bit like preparing for Thanksgiving dinner. You don’t need to bring more than a bottle of wine, but you have to be ready for whatever happens. — Quote
The Goddess’ Son — Review
Let’s just agree to disagree. — Quote
The ceremony took place in the tabernacle, upon a wooden stage with a background painted to look like drapery. Strang sat upon a throne made of wood, covered in cloth and stuffed with moss. He held a wooden scepter and wore a bright red robe trimmed with white, perhaps looking a bit like Santa Claus. An entourage of men with various church titles surrounded him, like dukes, earls, and barons at a court. — Quote
Faith of Tarot — Quote
Most translations have caught meanings in their net, but prosily, letting the beauty slip through. And in poetry, beauty is no ornament; it is the meaning. It is the truth. We have that on good authority. – Quote
The Golden Dawn Source Book — Review
You adapted, and you made sacrifices. You did it for your children or for love. You did it because of illness or because of an accident. You did it because you had new dreams — Quote
The Western Way — Review
American Cosmic — Review
Omnium Gatherum: April 6, 2019
If we could overcome Civilization and establish social harmony, we’d see the Boreal Crown shoot forth a coherent laser-like 1000-hued ray of pure aroma, or stellar jizm — Quote
The Delights of Anna — Review
It began as so many tales do: a one-eyed hunchback was bleeding out. — Quote
Stars of Black — Review
McReady was a figure from some forgotten myth, a looming, bronze statue that held life and walked. — Quote
Special offer for an extra $99 off Carolyn Elliott’s INFLUENCE online course on practical magic
Learning to Die in the Anthropocene — Review
To all the monsters hiding in this world, I hope the children will skin you alive. To the children in the world, let no one say you can’t make your monsters bleed. — Quote
Omnium Gatherum: March 30, 2019
My definition of good management is the achievement of objectives through the manipulation of others. — Quote
Vision of Tarot — Review
It is to be well noted that the Great Women of History have exercised unbounded freedom in Love. — Quote
Strange Stars — Review
The ‘company of heaven’ is Mankind, and its ‘unveiling’ is the assertion of the independent godhead of every man and every woman! — Quote
This entry was posted in The Hermetic Library and tagged hermetic library, summary, summary of the week on April 23, 2019 by John Griogair Bell.
The Ruby Tablet
Anatomy Occultus
The Wild Unknown Tarot
The Thirteenth Path 1
The Secrets of the Kaula Circle
The Book of Smokeless Fire
The Sacred Magician
The Satanist at Pharaoh's Court
Seshat and the Clitoris
Hermetic Library Reader’s Theatre 1dec2019
The Immoralist
The Serpent’s Gift
In the Shadow of Columbia’s Library
Adam, Eve, and the Serpent
The Hermetic Library Anthology Album - Magick, Music and Ritual 14 by The Hermetic Library The Hermetic Library Anthology Album - Magick, Music and Ritual 13 by The Hermetic Library
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Playing a Part: the Story of Claude Cahun
Sisterhood and After
From the monthly archives: "January 2016"
New film: Brighton: Symphony of a City- premiere at Brighton Dome, 11 May 2016
On January 28, 2016 By Lizzie Thynne
Lizzie’s new film ‘Brighton Symphony of a City’ commissioned for the 50th Brighton Festival 2016 will be screened with a live symphony performance of music by the wonderful Ed Hughes at the Brighton Dome, 11 May 2016, Tickets available now (from 19 Feb – members, from 26 Feb – public)
Playing a Part: The Story of Claude Cahun, special screening at Imperial War Museum North, 2pm Sunday 6 March 2016.
Lizzie will introduce the film followed by q and a with Professor Jackie Stacey (Manchester)
Follow Lizzie on Facebook...
Follow Lizzie on Twitter...
Email Lizzie...
© 2013 Lizzie Thynne
website design by AERTA UK
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Claws at Crufts
Posted by Penstorm on March 15, 2015 in Culture, Discussions, Tray | Leave a comment
SuperVet Noel FitzPatrick
About the programme: Hard-to-cure pets from across the country receive cutting-edge care from Noel Fitzpatrick, the ‘Bionic Vet’, and his crack veterinary team.
Watch Crufts? or Super-Vet? No contest. The two programmes are essentially very different animals. Channel 4’s The Supervet is a clear sharing of scientific and emotional knowledge, based around the stories of animals with the welfare of the creature positioned squarely at its centre. The charismatic Irish veterinary surgeon interacts with the humans who are their pets’ carers as sensitively and honestly as he engages with the patients whose lives he almost invariably saves or improves. His breathtaking skills often teeter on the edge of experimental innovations, a thrill which competes with the most absorbing of fictional dramas for edge of the seat suspense. Combine these fascinations with those of his personal gifts for communicating with all participants as sincerely as if they were his own family members, and here is the best of a soap opera formula. People like are the badly needed inspirational heros for today, when so many become disillusioned because of the shabbiness of shallow role-models pedalled by the flimsy media.
By contrast, Crufts has passed its sell by date and its model should be either reformed radically or the pretence of its core values exposed and rejected altogether. Over many years, the Event became a worldwide institution, establishing its prestige upon its claim to excellence. It is not difficult to dupe dog-lovers who are fascinated by the abilities and personalities of different breeds, swept along by the audience participation experience of assessing their appearance and performance. Many of us never questioned why a human owner becomes so obsessed with being in the public eye, their chief aim to win awards literally on the sorry backs of other dogs who will fail to win the top prizes. It was innocently assumed that they so passionately loved their dogs that they wanted to share their canine’s talents with the rest of the world. All that grooming and fussing and transporting of the obliging animal around venus which might or might not feel like relaxed environments for sensitive, intelligent “pets”. Very few viewers would wonder what varieties of unseen regimes must underpin such delightful displays by competitors who were usually also breeders. The client community are merchants, in fact, dealing in bloodlines of champions. Serious money hanging upon the wag of a winning tail. All competitions are industries, but where business is conducted around animals, it is a cause for concern to genuine dog-lovers that insufficient care is shown for the subjects of this often tortuous trade.
To be fair, there are probably many, well-handled dogs who respond enthusiastically to their training when properly conducted. We all know dogs love to run, jump, catch and perform various tricks which intrigue them. But do they enjoy walking backwards, and other increasingly demanding gymnastic feats, which involve stress because those cutsie actions do not come naturally to dogs? Really? Is this what owners who love their dogs want to inflict on devoted best friends? Really?
And if so, the question arises inescapably: WHY?
As for the audiences who watch entranced, will we choose to become mindful witnesses of miracles while watching “The SuperVet”, or dumbly continue to swell the hords spectating at a dubious, exploitative, game of hounds?
← Hatra and Fear The Good Ambassador →
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Home > Veiculi > Zeelander Yacths, announcing new models Z44 and Z55 in 2018
Zeelander Yacths, announcing new models Z44 and Z55 in 2018
February 16, 2018 Redazione Leave a comment Go to comments
– The company’s new shipyard is based in Groot-Ammers and counts on a 2000 m2 footprint on an impressive 20000 m2 waterfront plot
– A “boutique style” production for the happy few that merges extreme quality and obsession to detail
– Current range consists of two models Z44 and Z55 developed by Mulder Design and Cor D. Rover
– Timeless, recognizable exterior design and custom made interiors
– New models to be unveiled during 2018
– Zeelander Yachts reported a +40% increase in new motoryacht sales in 2017 and has a solid order book for 2018
– Best New Powerboat in 35 feet and over category award has been achieved at the 2017 Newport International Boat Show for the Z55’s outstanding quality, top-tier design and superb seagoing skills.
Zeelander Yachts is delighted to report that the 2017 has been a successful year in the Dutch shipyard’s history. The yard reports a 40% increase in new yacht sales last year and has a healthy order book for 2018.
“We had an amazing year filled with events, premieres, awards and, most importantly, sales”, said Leonardo van den Berg, Commercial Director at Zeelander Yachts. “Even being a boutique style production oriented yard – half of the boats were sold through partners/brokers. Also there was much movement in the Zeelander 44 market with several boats changing hands/owners. One of the most important of our achievement is the fact that – in January 2017 – we’ve opened our new yard in Groot-Ammers, where we have already built four Zeelander Z55s. Now are working on new, bigger projects that are about to hit the market for 2018 and 2019”.
Founded in 2002, the company specializes on production of high-end motoryachts that marry form and function to efficient performance with the highest possible standard. The current range includes two models, Z44 and flagship Z55. The Z44 is an instantly-recognizable lobster-style cruiser with a modern twist and powerful motor, capable of reaching 35 knots, panoramic views and spacious interior with one or two cabins. The Z55is the ideal step-up from the 44-feet model, offering even roomier cockpit and three cabins. After she’s been presented in 2017, Zeelander’s largest model to date – immediately received strong demand from owners and acclaims from expert luxury yachting community.
An example? The Best New Powerboat in 35 feet and over category award has been achieved at the 2017 Newport International Boat Show for the Z55’s outstanding quality, top-tier design and superb seagoing skills.
The new facilities, which are fully owned by Zeelander Yachts, are world-class indeed. Craftsmen from all the different disciplines involved in building a premium Zeelandermotoryacht – from engineering to construction, from joinery to metalwork – have access to the very latest equipment in order to make the most of their timeless skills.
“Our Groot-Ammers yard has a 2000 m2 footprint on an impressive 20000 m2 waterfront plot”, comments Leonardo van den Berg. “We can build up to three boats at a time and have a six boat per year total capacity, based on the Z55. We do our own design together with renowned Cor D. Rover, detail engineering, sales and marketing.”
Overall Zeelander Yachts have built and sold over 30 yachts, most of them on the US market. But there’s growing interest in these elegant boats in other areas of the world.
Leonardo van den Berg confirmed: “At this point the USA is still our biggest market. However, we are very active in Europe too with a focus on the French Côte d’Azur, and we had strong results at the Cannes Yachting Festival in September”.
Zeelander Yachts has aspiring plans for the year 2018. First, the company plans to further grow brand awareness in Europe and the Americas and create an exclusive community for the owners. Moreover, the shipyard’s expertise extends far beyond 55-feet yachts and this year it projects to unveil a couple of new larger models. More details will be released later.
Categories: Veiculi Tags: Cor D. Rover, Mulder Design, Zeelander Yachts
Brosway, negozio al Nankai Joy City Shopping Mall di Tianjin Alessi, edizione limitata per l’orologio Record di Achille Castiglioni
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Olympics Blog
News about the Summer and Winter Games
« Previous Post | Olympics Blog Home | Next Post »
U.S. men gymnasts get unexpected bronze
BEIJING -- Without Paul Hamm, who won the all-around gold medal four years ago in Athens, and his brother, Morgan, both out of this Olympics with injuries, the United States men weren't given much of a chance to win a medal in the team competition.
So give them credit for their third-place finish Tuesday.
They were in second after five rotations, not in contention to overtake dominating China for first place but holding a slight lead over third-place Japan.
Unfortunately, the sixth apparatus for the U.S. men, the pommel horse, was one of their weakest. They were overtaken by the Japanese for the silver medal. They did, however, edge Germany by 1.25 points for the bronze.
China finished first in five of the six apparatuses to finish with a score of 286.125. Japan scored 278.875. The United States scored 275.850.
-- Randy Harvey
Photo: Jonathan Horton, left, and Justin Spring hug while their teammate Raj Bhavsar, right, looks on after performing on the horizontal bar during the men's team final. Credit: Julie Jacobson/Associated Press
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24 reasons to support the Long Beach Post
David Sommers, Publisher
The Long Beach Post received exciting news yesterday—our newsroom has 24 finalist nominations in the digital publications contest of the 2018 California Journalism Awards.
That’s more nominations than any other newsroom, of any size, anywhere in the state. It’s the kind of success that comes from the support of thousands of readers who are financially contributing to the robust local news produced by the journalists of the Long Beach Post.
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The California Journalism Awards, managed by the California News Publishers Association, promote excellence in journalism and recognize outstanding work to inform and enlighten readers across the state.
For 2018, a total of 3,105 entries were received, with 196 finalists selected in the digital contest.
The entire Post newsroom is a finalist for public service journalism for the Safe Streets investigative series on the socioeconomic disparities Long Beach children often face in getting to and from school each day. The informational graphics created for the series by Operations Director Dennis Dean were also nominated as a finalist, as well as two of the individual stories for the project.
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David Sommers is publisher of the Long Beach Post. As the publication’s top leader, he is responsible for everything from editorial and advertising to technical and corporate operations. On any given day, you can find him meeting with advertisers, schmoozing with city leaders and poring over tough news decisions. He’s also responsible for fixing the copy machine, setting up officer furniture and keeping the newsroom well-stocked with paper towels and coffee pods.
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Home » COLUMNS » Imp's Adventures » Imp’s NJPW Adventure – Is Kenny Omega Going To WWE or AEW?
Imp’s NJPW Adventure – Is Kenny Omega Going To WWE or AEW?
January 7, 2019 The Implications 20 comments
Imp’s NJPW Adventure
Is Kenny Omega Going To WWE or AEW?
Yesterday news broke that Kenny Omega, The ELITE & KUSHIDA are all set to leave NJPW. There’s some holding hope that the former is just purely a storyline related ‘time off’ similar to the aftermath of his loss to Okada at Wrestle Kingdom 11, but as of today, it’s looking like the now former IWGP Heavyweight Champion is set to leave.
As for the other names, KUSHIDA has done almost everything there was for him to do in NJPW. He’s been one of those wrestlers that perfectly sums up the company’s fighting spirit. You wanted to book a wrestler that encapsulated the essence of New Japan, you booked KUSHIDA.
He doesn’t have any ills either, after Tanahashi asked about things he enjoyed about NJPW or if there was anything he found tough, the Ace of the Junior Division broke down crying. He loved everything, he loves wrestling there’s nothing he wants to do more than be performing in that ring.
There have been rumblings (no pun) linking KUSHIDA with a possible move to WWE, as seems to be a running theme with NJPW’s January departures in recent years. But all we know for sure is that he’ll be honouring and giving his all for the rest of his contract, which like Omega ends on January 31st. So don’t go betting on a Rumble spot for KUSHIDA.
Then with the start of AEW it really isn’t a surprise to learn that Cody and The Bucks in particular were pretty much giving their farewells this past weekend. That’s something I predicted with SirSam on Perfect 10 on LOP Radio last week, given they’re going to be busy as hell starting up this huge venture, to me it made all the sense in the world that they’d pull away from their Japanese obligations.
Plus they are starting their own separate major wrestling company, does make sense they wouldn’t be under the direct employ of another one whilst doing so. Business workings wise, it’s also looking as if NJPW will be continuing to work with ROH and not AEW, which also makes sense given the unknown nature of this new promotion. Hopes are high, fans are excited, the talent behind it are white hot popular, but we still don’t know anything really.
Which then leads to the next question, where next for Omega? With an apparently almost Lesnar money deal from WWE on the table, that surely has to be enticing. However on the other side of things, Omega’s been with The Bucks (and then Cody) for every step of the way for The ELITE. Be it pissing about with an iPhone backstage, or helping put 10,000 butts in 10,000 seats, Kenny Omega’s been right there with them. So why would he leave now? On the eve of the biggest venture/gamble of the lot?
This is why I go back and forth, I’ve said that I cannot see Omega going to WWE unless we were talking Lesnar levels of wages. Well it turns out that’s the exact ball park we’re playing in! Do you take the ludicrous amount of money, or continue to help change the wrestling world? Do you take certainty, or continue to bet on yourself and roll the dice?
At the end of the day, there is nothing we can do as fans but speculate. Any online wrestling personality will tell you that debating this with people is damn enjoyable, because both sides have such strong points. In the end we’ll only really know once the man himself speaks. Schrödinger’s Kenny, until we know for sure, he is in both situations.
However, earlier today the latest episode of Being The Elite was uploaded, the teasing has begun! Early on in the episode Kenny quite casually mentions that he’s lost his phone, come the end of the episode we see a phone face down on the ground, ticking like a clock just as the others’ did with the AEW/Double or Nothing reveal.
The WWE/AEW questions about Omega may have been subtly answered right there. But we didn’t see what date was being counted down to, is it a tad presumptuous to outright call it a definitive that Omega’s bound for AEW? Could they be counting down to the Royal Rumble? Hence why we don’t see the screen. Hell, we could be in a case where nothing’s decided so we’re right back into chilling with Schrödinger’s Kenny.
One thing I will mention, Kenny Omega’s contract runs out the same date as KUSHIDA’s, which is January 31st. So don’t get annoyed if he isn’t a surprise entrant in WWE’s annual reverse battle royal, hard to work for another company when you’re still contracted to another. On the other hand, in wrestling you can never say never.
I am reminded of WWE’s first NJPW raid a few years ago though, acquiring AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows in one swoop. Styles debuted at the Rumble, whilst the other three stayed on until the end of their contracts in mid-February. All four honoured their contracts, I’d be VERY surprised if Omega gets his way out of his and debuts for WWE in a similar manner to Styles.
The popularity and status are obviously similar to Styles, but the contract is an entirely different situation that’s in fact closer to that of WWE’s other three NJPW 2016 swoops. So if Omega is WWE bound, I’m warning you now, don’t get your hopes up for the Rumble.
So after all this where is my money on? I’ve gone back and forth, word of the surely impossible to turn down amount of money made me alter my view a little, however I cannot shake Kenny Omega’s statements from the past. He’s a man who’s constantly talked about wanting to change the status quo, not about the money, but about changing the industry.
And AEW is not just another start up wrestling company, their backer is a multi-billionaire, the people running the promotion are Kenny’s best friends of whom he’s been on this journey with from the beginning. Is the money from WWE really enough to leave at the final hour?
If I’m going by previous statements on the industry from the man himself, then no. On the other hand, you’d think that big money would likely result in a big push. That WrestleMania match against AJ Styles would suddenly be a real possibility, something Omega’s said in the past that he’d really like to do. But that was said in a time before ALL IN, a past prior to the idea of AEW being conceived.
Is it really beyond reason to believe Kenny would bet on himself and try to change the industry? Rather than take the WWE money because ‘any smart businessman would’. Anyway, you’ve got to imagine that if WWE are willing to pay that much money to sign you to their roster, then you must be doing something right. Maybe betting on yourself isn’t the stupidest thing in the world.
You’ve got to imagine that major clash of Styles vs Omega is still a dream of his, but the landscape has completely changed since he made that statement. So surely, surely Kenny Omega will continue to join his friends on their journey to change the world… right?
Damn you, Schrödinger’s Kenny!
Toodles, chaps.
Follow @TheDamnImplicat
Email Imp – theimplicationsyt@gmail.com
Imp’s on LOP Radio every Thursday with Perfect 10 Wrestling! On the latest episode he was joined by SirSam to preview Wrestle Kingdom 13 with all the excitement in the world.
Imp’s most recent columns
Imp’s NJPW Adventure – The Story of Hiroshi Tanahashi Part 1: Becoming The Ace
Imp’s NJPW Adventure – The Story of Hiroshi Tanahashi Part 2: The Ace of the Universe
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AEW’s Original Plans for Leader of The Dark Order Revealed 9,945 views | 105 comments | posted on January 17, 2020
AEW’s Original Plans for Leader of The Dark Order Revealed 105 comments | 9,945 views | posted on January 17, 2020
Imp's Adventures
NJPWKenny OmegaThe Young Bucksbeing the eliteAEWKUSHIDA
WWE Superstar Turns 28, Carmella Tweets on Being Underestimated In WWE, Top 10 Devastating Kicks
Update on WWE’s Offer to Kenny Omega, All Elite Wrestling – Omega Note
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Young artists show their Visual Arts talents
Sham Hoi Yee (S.7 graduate 2008), is currently a postgraduate of Bachelor of Arts (Hons) at the Hong Kong Baptist University. Her talent in Visual Arts was cultivated during her secondary education at our school. Sculptures of Hoi Yee are now displayed in The Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre and she also has her own studio at the JCCAC. As an artist, she is specialized in glass art and installation art.
"I doubt which subject I can study except for Visual Arts", says Hoi Yee. With full support from her parents, she opened her own workshop. The unconditional support serves as an indispensable factor to her success and provides her with room to develop her artistic potential. Hoi Yee hopes to broaden her horizons outside Hong Kong after saving sufficient money to fund her trips.
(Source: Tai Kung Pao 5 December 2011)
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Somerville Road Commissioner to Resign
Alexander Violo
Somerville Road Commissioner Josh Platt explains the reasons for his resignation during a special meeting of the Somerville Board of Selectmen on Sept. 18. (Alexander Violo photo)
Somerville Road Commissioner Josh Platt intends to resign, citing hostility from residents. The Somerville Board of Selectmen did not accept his resignation, however, instead voting to hire a replacement before releasing him from his contract.
Platt, in his letter of resignation, gave the end of September as the effective date. During a special selectmen’s meeting Sept. 18, he agreed to stay on until the end of October.
After much discussion and public comment, the selectmen voted unanimously to find the commissioner’s replacement before releasing Platt from his contract. Platt’s three-year term expires in June 2020.
Platt said he has developed a thick skin during his career, but harassment from residents has grown to present an undue risk to his livelihood and professional reputation.
In addition to his role as part-time road commissioner, Platt works at Maine Environmental Solutions in Hallowell. He founded the company, which provides gravel road design and management planning, environmental assessments, and erosion control planning.
As road commissioner, he earns a monthly stipend of $1,000.
“I understand the way I am treated is part of a job. People certainly have a right to question things, but the way it is presented sometimes … I’ll leave it that,” Platt said.
Platt’s treatment by residents “is more than a lot of people in this room know about,” he said. “I don’t see how anyone can argue the roads aren’t better than when I started.”
Platt said he addresses all questions he receives, even those in long emails and even questions he has answered multiple times at public meetings.
“Never have I ever not responded to people. I answer every question I get if it is legitimate,” Platt said.
Platt started as road commissioner in Somerville in July 2017. The previous road commissioner was Jesse Turner, whose two-year term expired in 2017.
Somerville voters decided to change the method of selecting a road commissioner from election to appointment by a margin of 34-10 at town meeting in 2016.
Platt wrote a 2016 management plan for the town’s gravel roads prior to taking over as road commissioner.
He worked for 10 years as a project manager and member of the watershed project field staff for the Kennebec County Soil and Water Conservation District. He teaches courses on gravel roads for the Maine Department of Transportation.
Before the selectmen’s vote Sept. 18, Doug Shartzer urged them to hear out the townspeople.
“It is important the people in this room are heard before the selectmen render a decision to release (Platt) from his contract,” Shartzer said.
Third Selectman Jarad Greeley agreed.
“I want everyone to know people have the right to question any decision the road commissioner or board of selectmen make,” Greeley said.
Johnson said the manner in which questions are asked is important.
“How people express themselves does matter. We have decorum and expectations that we don’t attack people. It is what you have a problem with that is the issue, not getting into motives and intentions and speculating on that,” Johnson said.
The special meeting had been opened by resident Russell Gates, who implored residents to stop barking at the board and one another and work together to resolve the matter at hand.
Second Selectman Don Chase expressed frustration with Platt’s treatment by residents.
“It’s sad the townspeople have made bad comments. He is doing the best job he can do for this town and he is the first road commissioner ever to come to us with a bill in hand to let us know how much it costs to do a job,” Chase said.
Chase took exception to remarks at past meetings about the choice of road materials.
“Traffic conditions are very different than 35 years ago. The weather is very different than 35 years ago and no one takes that into consideration. We used to have five people on these roads a day; now we have 30. That makes a difference in conditions and what type of materials you use … but there are some people in town, no matter what you do or show them, they don’t change their minds,” Chase said.
Somerville Road
Somerville resident Russell Gates calls for civility during a Sept. 18 meeting about the resignation of the town’s road commissioner. (Alexander Violo photo)
Somerville Road was at the center of the discussion on the road commissioner’s resignation.
The selectmen were adamant that even if they accept Platt’s resignation, he would need to stay on, potentially as a subcontractor, until the problems with Somerville Road’s paving are resolved.
According to Platt, 17% percent of the fall 2017 paving on Somerville Road failed after three preconstruction borings by the town did not accurately show the composition of the road’s base. The road began to show issues in the winter and spring after the initial work.
Ultimately, 18 borings were done, revealing the full nature of the ground beneath the roadway.
Resident Frank Hample asked who recommended the three borings prior to paving.
At the time the borings were done, “the town hadn’t decided to pave the road,” Platt said. “They just said, ‘Let’s do three borings per road. That’s what we have money to do.’”
Because of the boring-related issue, the paving contractor, Hagar Enterprises Inc., of Damariscotta, was not deemed at fault for the initial issues with the road.
An analysis of the 18 post-construction borings by E.S. Coffin Engineering & Surveying Inc., of Chelsea, showed the issue lied with the roadbed.
“Hagar wasn’t contracted to rebuild the road, based on the limited core samples that were done which didn’t show these issues. Rebuilding the road was not part of the contract, therefore, through a legal assessment, they weren’t liable, because they didn’t reconstruct the road,” Johnson said.
Complications from the project have led to acrimony at selectmen’s meetings, with resident Dan Barnett directing the term “idiot” at the board in October 2018, leading then-Chair Darlene Landry to abruptly adjourn the meeting.
Responding to comments, Platt said the temperature at the time of paving was not the issue. He said he posed the question to two engineers from the Maine Department of Transportation.
“They said if that was the case, the failure would have been over the whole surface area, not 17% of the road,” Platt said.
The road was rebuilt in 2018 at a cost of $135,000, a cost separate from the original estimate of $401,000 to pave the road. A final figure for the original construction cost was not available.
The $401,000 estimate included a final layer of paving, and new issues have come up with this final layer.
According to Johnson, the final layer is not adhering to the other portions of the road, causing issues with the pavement overall.
Johnson said he believes the issues with the final layer fall under the contractor’s warranty. He is optimistic the town will reach a resolution on the matter with the contractor in the near future.
Johnson said that because of the ongoing nature of the issue, it is paramount Platt does not resign immediately. The town needs his “help and support” for “however long it takes,” Johnson said.
The town has received two emails from Hagar Enterprises updating Somerville on its progress, indicating it is analyzing materials in the top layer to see what went wrong, according to Johnson.
“We are interested in keeping things moving with Hagar and interested in sitting down with them next week,” Johnson said.
Platt said he would work with the town and Hagar Enterprises to resolve the problems on Somerville Road.
“I worked with Hagar on the base issue, on the plowing contract, and I have had no issue communicating with them. The reasons I have for resigning have nothing to do with Hagar,” Platt said.
A petition is circulating in Somerville to go back to electing a road commissioner. Claudia Fujinaga, of Crummett Mountain Road, started the petition, which Johnson believes to have enough signatures to force a vote.
The petition may complicate the selectmen’s efforts to fill the position.
After the selectmen voted on Platt’s resignation, they revised the job description for the position and worked on an advertisement for the opening.
Johnson said it will be difficult to hire a qualified candidate for a job that will only last several months if voters opt to elect the road commissioner.
Somerville Selectman Adjourns Meeting after Resident’s Insult
Somerville Selectmen will Hold Roads-Specific Meetings
Somerville Selectmen Approve Weight Limit Ordinance
Bremen Officials Say Ordinance Would Fix Problems, Opponents Voice Concerns
Somerville Selectmen Elect Landry Chair
Snowmobiler OK After Going Through Ice on Biscay Pond in Bremen
Late Damariscotta Businessman ‘Would Do Anything for You’
New Nobleboro Fire Chief Aims to Raise Awareness of Department’s Needs
Bremen Clam Experiment Shows No Benefit from Brushing, Netting
South Bristol School Plans Pre-K Program
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Paris Air Show Preview
May 22, 2017, © Leeham Co. The Paris Air Show begins June 17, and few in the industry expect much in the way of orders this year.
The order cycle is on the downward side of the bell curve. Sustaining the 2,000, 3,000 or nearly 4,000 gross orders announced 2011-2013 simply couldn't be achieved. The "order bubble" had to break, and it did. Last year, Airbus and Boeing reported some 1,400 orders between them.
Airbus guides that it will tough to achieve a 1:1 book:bill this year. Boeing is running about 1:1 book:bill so far but it also guides conservatively. Still, LNC thinks Boeing might surprise this year--and some of this could be at the Paris Air Show.
Leeham Co.'s new publication, Commercial Aviation Report, provides a Focus Report on the Air Show. This encompasses the expectations for Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Embraer, COMAC, Irkut, Mitsubishi, CFM, GE Aviation, Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce into one easy-to-read package.
The pre-airshow press briefings by the OEMs begin next week. We don't expect any earth-shattering news from these and we wanted to get our views out ahead of these briefings.
Boeing wants to launch the 737-10 MAX at the Paris Air Show. This could spur a group of orders that would give Boeing a rare win in the headlines vs Airbus on the latter's home ground.
Mitsubishi plans to have its MRJ90 at the Air Show. One airplane entered the paint shop for ANA colors--this might be the one making the appearance.
Embraer expects to have its KC-390 there. Will the E195-E2 also make an appearance?
Category: Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, CFM, China, Comac, Commercial Aviation Report, Embraer, GE Aviation, Irkut, Mitsubishi, Paris Air Show, Pratt & Whitney, Premium, Rolls-Royce
Tags: Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, CFM, Comac, Embraer, GE Aviation, Irkut, Mitsubishi, Paris Air Show, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce
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Delta shoots down Boeing’s CSeries dumping claim →
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Leo Adam Biga's My Inside Stories
I write stories about people, their passions and their magnificent obsessions
About Leo Adam Biga
Introducing Freelance Writing Academy Seminars with Instructor Leo Adam Biga: Book Biga Today
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Passion Project. Introducing the new – “Alexander Payne: His Journey in Film”
Through a lens starkly: Alexander Payne films Nebraska
June 20, 2016 leoadambiga 1 comment
EXCERPTS FROM ALEXANDER PAYNE: HIS JOURNEY IN FILM
New edition now available
©by Leo Adam Biga
Even though Alexander Payne demonstrates time and again that commercial considerations mean very little to him, following the breakaway success of The Descendants (2011) there was every reasonable expectation he might lean a bit more again in the direction of mainstream with his next film. I say again because I count The Descendants as a conventional, even mainstream work even though its protagonist rails against his comatose wife and sets out to wreck the life of the man she was cheating with, all the while trying not to lose it with his two grieving daughters in tow.
Payne soon quashed any notion of playing it safe when he announced the small, insular back roads comedy-drama Nebraska (2013) as his new feature project. It did not help its bottom line chances that the film is set in rural Nebraska, which for most filmgoers may as well be the dark side of the moon for its unfamiliarity, remoteness, and perceived barrenness. Indeed, if Nebraska conjures any image at all it is of endless cornfields, cows, and monotonously flat, uninspired scenery. When the story laid over such a setting features a confused, depressed old cuss alienated from family and friends and wandering around in a bleak wasteland made even bleaker by black and white photography and desolate late fall, post-harvest locations, it does not exactly engender excitement. The prospect of a dour, feel-bad experience devoid of life and color does not get tongues a-wagging to generate the all important buzz that sells tickets.
Of course, anyone who has seen Nebraska knows the film is not the downer it may appear to be from glimpsing a thirty second trailer or hearing a thirty second sound bite, but that it is ultimately a sweet, deeply affecting film filled with familiar truths amid its very Nebraskaesque yet also quite universal archetypes.
Payne’s insistence on shooting in black and white was a completely legitimate aesthetic choice given the storyline and tone of this stark, autumnal mood piece about an old man having his last hurrah. But it also meant a definite disadvantage in appealing to average or general movie fans, many of whom automatically pass on any non-color film. Compounding the aversion that many moviegoers have with black and white is the fact that most studio executives, distributors, and theater bookers share this aversion, not on aesthetic grounds, but based on the long-held, much repeated argument that black and white films fare poorly at the box office. Of course, there is a self- fulfilling prophecy at work here that starts with studio resistance and reluctance to greenlight black and white features and even when a studio does approve the rare black and white entry executives seem to half-heartedly market and release these pics. It is almost as if the bean counters are out to perversely prove a point, even at the risk of injuring the chances of one of their own pictures at finding a sizable audience. Then when the picture lags, it gives the powerbrokers the platform to say, I told you so. No wonder then – and this is assuming the argument is true – most black and white flicks don’t perform well compared with their color counterparts. Except, how does one arrive at anything like a fair comparison of films based on color versus black and white? Even if the films under review are of the same genre and released in the same period, each is individually, intrinsically its own experience and any comparison inevitably ends up being a futile apples and oranges debate. Besides, there are exceptions to the supposed rule that all black and white films struggle. From the 1970s on The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon, Young Frankenstein, Manhattan, Raging Bull, Schindler’s List, Ed Wood, and The Artist are among the black and white films to have found wide success. It is admittedly a short list but it does prove black and white need not be a death sentence.
To no one’s surprise Paramount did what practically any studio would have done in the same situation, which was to fight Payne on the black and white decision. In no uncertain terms Payne wanted to make Nebraska in black and white and just as adamantly the studio wanted no part of it. He pushed and they pushed back. He would not compromise his vision because from the moment he first read Bob Nelson’s screenplay he clearly saw in his mind’s eye the world of this story play out in in shades of black and white. It just fit. It fit the characters and the settings and the emotions and as far as he was concerned that was that. No questions asked. No concessions made.
I do not claim to know all the details of this protracted dispute or should I say discussion but I do know from what Payne and cinematographer Phedon Papamichael have told me that the issue became a point of some contention. I do not know if it ever reached an impasse where Payne more or less indicated by word or action he was prepared to walk and take the project with him (his own Ad Hominem production company brought the property to Paramount). It certainly wouldn’t surprise me that he let it be known, subtly or not, that he was willing to make the project with another studio if it came to that. It is a moot point now since Paramount eventually acceded to his wishes, though not insignificantly the studio did cut some of the picture’s already small budget as a kind of hedge I suppose against the small business they expected the film to do. The smaller the budget, and in this case it was $12 million, the smaller the risk of not recouping its cost.
Given Payne’s even temperament and gentility, I doubt if things reached the level of shouting or angry exchanges, though he undoubtedly expressed displeasure with their interference and pettiness. I have to think he wore the execs down with his patience and persistence to win the black and white battle but at the end of the day he was willing to give up a couple million dollars in exchange for realizing his vision. I know he said that losing a million dollars is a huge loss when it comes to small-budgeted films like this one and I understand that in order to get the film made within those constraints he and others worked for scale in return for some points on the back end.
Hampered as it was by the limited release, Nebraska still pulled in nearly $18 million domestically and I am sure when all the figures are added up from North America and overseas, where I predict the film will fare well, especially in Europe, its total gross will be in excess of $25 million. By the time all the home viewing rentals and purchases are taken into account a year from now, I wager the film will have done some $30 million in business, which would more than double its production costs. That is quite a return on a small film that did not get much studio support beyond the bare basics.
Payne could have made things easier for himself and the studio by filming in color and securing a superstar. Nebraska marked quite a departure from the lush, color-filled canvas of Hawaii he captured in The Descendants and the equally verdant California wine country he committed to celluloid in Sideways. Never mind the fact the stories of those earlier films, despite the radical differences of their physical locations, actually share much in common tonally and thematically with Nebraska. The dark comic tone and theme of Payne’s films can threaten to be overshadowed when a star the magnitude of Jack Nicholson (About Schmidt) or George Clooney (The Descendants) attaches himself to one of his projects. But as anyone who is familiar with the subdued star turns of those two actors in those particular films will tell you, Nicholson departed far from his trademark insouciance and braggadocio to totally inhabit his repressed, depressive title character in Schmidt just as Clooney left behind much of his breezy, cocksure charm to essay his neurotic somewhat desperate character in Descendants. Each star was eager to shed his well-practiced, bigger- than-life persona in service of scripts and parts that called for them to play against type. Instead of their usual live-out-loud, testosterone-high roles, they play quiet, wounded, vulnerable men in trouble. For that matter, the men-children Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church play in Sideways are seemingly complete opposites but in actuality are emotionally-stunted, damaged souls using oblivion, alcohol, and sex to medicate their pain and avoid reality. The beauty of the California and Hawaii locales work as contrast and counterpoint to the chaotic lives of these lost figures careening toward catharsis. In Schmidt Omaha is the perfect washed-out backdrop for a man undergoing a full-scale identity and spiritual crisis once he retires and his domineering wife dies.
That brings us to Woody Grant, the crotchety so-and-so at the center of Nebraska. When we meet this reprobate he is near the end of a largely misspent life. Facing his inevitable and nearing mortality he doesn’t much like what he sees when he reviews his life and where he has landed. He is dealing with many deficits in his old age. His body is falling apart. He walks stiffly, haltingly. His alcoholism has been unaddressed and it contributes to his foggy mind, mood swings, propensity to fall and hurt himself, and to utter hurtful things. He seems to derive no joy or satisfaction from his wife of many years and his two adult sons. He almost regards them as inconvenient reminders of his own failings as a husband and father. On top of all this, he is poor and in no position to leave his family anything like a tangible legacy.
This miserable wretch has seized upon what he believes to be his last chance at assuaging a deep well of shame, guilt, bitterness, and resentment. His mistaken belief there is a sweepstakes prize for him to redeem becomes a search for his own personal redemption or salvation. He desperately wants something, namely a truck, to leave his boys. The true meaning of the road trip he embarks on with his son David is only revealed to us and to his boy along the way and that gradual discovery adds layers of poignancy to the story.
When Woody arrives back in his hometown of Hawthorne, Nebraska word spreads he is on his way to collect a million dollars sweepstakes prize. For a few moments he becomes a person of substance in the eyes of his extended family and the town’s other residents. Some family members and one old friend turn vultures and demand they get a share of his windfall as compensation for favors they did or loans they made that were never returned. But there is another side to that story. We find out Woody has a kind heart beneath his gruff exterior, so much so that he’s been known to do favors and to give money away without ever expecting repayment. That has led him to be taken advantage of over the years. Then when the truth gets out Woody has not won anything but has misinterpreted a marketing piece for a confirmation letter of his supposed million in winnings, he is publicly humiliated and made out to be a fool.
For Nebraska Payne went one step further in distancing himself from commercial considerations by casting as his two leads Bruce Dern and Will Forte, who at first glance form an unlikely combination but in fact play wonderfully off each other. Dern’s acclaimed performance as Woody Grant earned him a Best Actor prize at Cannes and nominations from the Golden Globes and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Saturday Night Live alumnus Forte is triumphant in his first dramatic role as the sympathetic son David. The next largest part belongs to June Squibb, who until this film was a somewhat familiar face if not a household name (she played Nicholson’s wife in Schmidt). Her stellar work in a colorful role as Woody’s piss-and- vinegar wife Kate has brought her the most attention she’s received in a very long and productive career. Arguably, the biggest name in the picture belongs to Stacy Keach, a veteran of film, television, and stage who has little screen time in the picture but makes the most of it in a powerfully indelible turn as the story’s heavy, Ed Pegram. As strong as these performances are Payne did not do his film any box office favors by choosing actors so far off the radar of moviegoers. That is not a criticism, it is simply a fact. At least a dozen more speaking parts are filled by no-name actors, nonprofessional actors, and nonactors, all of whom add great authenticity to the film but whose obscurity hurts rather than helps the marketing cause.
It may take a while, but I am quite confident Nebraska will eventually find the large audience it deserves. In my opinion it will be a much viewed and discussed stand-the-test-of-time film for its many cinema art merits. As good as Payne’s earlier films have been I believe this to be his finest work to date because it is in my view the fullest expression of his filmmaking talents. Visually, it is a tone poem of the first order and on that basis alone it is a film to be reckoned with. Payne and cinematographer Phedon Papamichael have achieved an expressive black and white palette whose hues perfectly articulate the heavy heart of the story. But Payne also found unobtrusive ways to position the camera and, with editor Kevin Tent, to cut scenes so as to amplify its many moments of humor without ever detracting from its elegiac, soulful mood. Mark Orton’s original music, plus the incidental music used here and there, add more nuances of mood. Payne artfully composed images for the wide screen format he shot in to glean added depth and meaning from the action. Within the same frame he intentionally juxtaposed characters with the stark landscapes, townscapes, and homes they inhabit. Many of these scenes emphasize sadness, stillness and desolation. Irony infuses it all. The result is an ongoing dialogue between people and their environments. Each informs the other and by consequence us.
The filmmaker’s economy of style has never been more evident. He has reached the point of communicating so much with simple brush strokes. Take for instance the way Woody’s harsh childhood experience is encapsulated when the old man and his family visit the abandoned farm house he grew up in. Payne has the camera fluidly glide over the detritus of this once proud home turned wreck and to peak into rooms that carry so much psychic-emotional pain for Woody, who was beaten as a boy. Payne clearly indicates this is a private, anguished, cathartic return for Woody, who has avoided this place and its memories for years.
Or consider that gathering of taciturn men in Woody’s family at his brother’s home in town. Payne arranges the uncles, brothers, sons, nephews, cousins in an American Gothic pose around the TV set, where the men engage in the almost wordless ritualistic viewing of a football game. It is at once a funny and powerful expression of their tribal, tight-lipped bond. A bond more about association by blood than affinity.
Then there are the almost incidental shots of boarded up buildings in town that symbolize and speak to the economic hard times to have befallen so many small towns like the fictional Hawthorne. In a short scene Payne conveys an important way in which the times have changed there and in towns like it when he has Woody visit the auto service station he used to own and he finds the new owners are Spanish- speaking Hispanics. Woody thus personally encounters a demographic shift that has altered the face of his hometown and much of rural Nebraska. No more is made of it then that simple reality and the brief exchange between Woody and the “newcomers,” but it is enough to say that times have moved on and the Hawthorne he knew has evolved in some ways and remained unchanged in others.
Perhaps the best example of Payne distilling things down to their simplest, purest, most elemental form is the end sequence when David and Woody are in the truck David has purchased and registered in his father’s name. David, who is at the wheel with Woody beside him, stops the truck on the edge of town and invites Woody to take the wheel and drive down main street in his new rig. What follows is one of the most moving denouements in contemporary American cinema. Woody is granted a rare gift when he accepts the invitation to take a celebratory ride down main street. As the truck slowly passes through town he wins more than any prize money could provide when four people from his past catch sight of him and look at him with a combination of awe, admiration, and surprise. It is a perfect moment in the sun vindication for a beleaguered, bedraggled man who suddenly brims with confidence and purpose. Woody leaves town on his own terms, his dignity and pride intact.
What makes that valedictory ride so special is that his sympathetic son David is there to grant him it and to bask in it with him. These two who began the road trip not really knowing each other and often at odds with each other have traveled a journey together that has brought them a measure of acceptance, healing, and peace. David has finally come to understand why his father is the way he is. His fondest desire is realized when he gives Woody that movie-movie opportunity to prove he is not the loser or fool this day. As Woody sits high in the cab of the truck, with David lovingly looking on from the floor, and drives past the artifacts of his past and the denizens of that town, he may as well be a cowboy sitting tall in the saddle of his horse riding into the sunset. He graciously accepts the congratulations of town chatterbox Bernie Bowen. He stares down his former friend Ed Pegram, who now looks the shamed fool. Woody’s heart stirs again for old flame Peg Nagy, whose wistful expression wonders what might have been. As he heads out of town Woody said a fond goodbye to Albert, the Grant brother whose favorite pastime is siting beside the road waving at the occupants of passing cars.
Outside of town the truck stops at the bottom of a hill and Woody and David once again exchange places. Doing this out of the view of onlookers preserves Woody’s glorious farewell and signals Woody now accepts his limitations and David’s love for him. With David back behind the wheel and Woody beside him father and son drive off to meet the future together. The fact that almost all of this sequence plays out wordlessly and still conveys so much meaning is a testament to the work of Payne and his collaborators in extracting the essence of these scenes through beautifully executed shots that give full weight to glances gestures, postures, and backdrops.
I had been anticipating the ending for a long while because it was some years ago Payne first shared the Nelson screenplay with me. The script had come to him way back around the time he was making Sideways (2004). He kept it in reserve all those years that passed between Sideways’s production and release and his starting production on The Descendants. By the time he shared the Nebraska script with me Payne had already changed the ending (he always rewrites scripts he inherits) and I remember him being particularly proud of what he had achieved with the close of that story. I was completely taken by the entire script and especially that ending. In my book he really nailed it and came as close as one could to realizing what was on the page.
It is hard to find antecedents for the film. The closest I came up with are Frank Capra’s Meet John Doe, Preston Sturges’s Sullivan’s Travels, Federico Felllini’s La Strada, Jerry Schatzberg’s Scarecrow, Peter Bogdanovich’s Paper Moon, Paul Mazursky’s Harry and Tonto, and David Lynch’s The Straight Story. That is quite a range of work and it gives you an idea of the breadth of potential influences that can be found in it, though I am not suggesting Payne had any of those specific films or others in mind when he made Nebraska. There is at least a similar sense of alienation and a crazy intrepid spirit running through their restless storylines. They share a similar visual sensibility as well. Of course the most obvious thing they share in common is the road story template. While the protagonists are very different from each other, they are all running to or from something.
In terms of my coverage of Nebraska, I interviewed him twice before he began production, I visited the northeast Nebraska set for a couple days and witnessed a few scenes being shot, including one major exterior scene (outside the abandoned family farmhouse) and one major interior scene (at the home of Woody’s brother in Hawthorne). I did followup interviews with Payne during and immediately after the shoot. Then I traveled to Los Angeles to sit in on five days of the final mixing process just before the film had its world premiere at Cannes. During my L.A. stay I got to see many fixes made to the film and watched a private run through of the entire film at a screening room on the Paramount Studios lot.
I got a second opportunity to watch the film ahead of its general release at a special Paramount screening put on by the Nebraska Coast Connection, an affiliation of Nebraskans working in the film and television industry. The organization hosts a monthly Hollywood Salon that features guest speakers and I attended the fall salon featuring Payne, who was interviewed by NCC founder and president Todd Nelson before a live audience at the Culver Hotel in Culver City. Much of that event focused on the making of Nebraska. I also attended the fall Film Streams Feature Event in Omaha that saw novelist and Studio 360 host Kurt Andersen interview Payne, co-stars Dern, Forte, and Squibb live on stage at the Holland Performing Arts Center. In addition to the earlier interviews I did with Payne, I had interviewed all of those actors, with the exception of Squibb. I also interviewed Keach, screenwriter Bob Nelson, producer Albert Berger, and cinematographer Phedon Papamichael.
All in all, I accumulated as much or more material about Nebraska than I did for any of Payne’s previous films and more than enough to warrant this new edition.
Much of what is communicated in Nebraska has to do with dislocation and disconnection. The characters harbor potent, not always pleasant memories of their shared past. Woody is a man broken off from the people and places of his past and when he revisits them in pursuit of his phantom winnings he is flooded with mixed feelings he doesn’t quite know what to do with. Woody’s woundedness is bound up in the incidents of his childhood and young adulthood. Distancing himself from that past has only separated himself from himself. Thus, he is a broken man who has left pieces of himself scattered in his wake. The story is not so much about him picking up the pieces of his life and putting them back together, although some of that occurs to make him more whole again, as it is about his son David using those fragments as puzzle pieces to more fully appreciate who his father is and the path he’s walked. Because the story is about people who don’t have much to say to each other, at least emotionally speaking, the emotional life of the story is rooted as much in the subtext as it is in the context of scenes. Therefore, the film’s power resides as much in what is left unsaid or in what is referred to as it is in what is actually said and shown. This nonliteral approach is unusual for American films. Indeed, the film’s oblique style and deliberate rhythms are very much those of a European or a Latin American film.
A final note about Nebraska and its reception from Nebraskans is in order. As respected and admired a figure as Payne is among the home state set, his films made in Nebraska elicit strange reactions from a certain segment who bemoan the unflattering light they feel he presents the state and its residents in. This is a classic case of it-is- what-it-is. There is no doubt Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt, and Nebraska, his quartet of films made almost entirely on his native turf, focus on mundane and malicious aspects of life that, though found everywhere, no one wants associated with their state. It can be a particularly sensitive subject in Nebraska. because this small population state already battles an image problem. That is to say greater Nebraska and its one true metropolitan center, Omaha, do not have a strong, readily identifiable or sexy profile and presence on the national-international stages. Nebraska simply blends in with that vast homogenized Midwest and Great Plains. Outsiders dismiss it as a place of no consequence with bland surroundings, unsophisticated inhabitants, and insignificant happenings and therefore the very antithesis of the coasts. Some of those same perceptions explain why Nebraska struggles to retain its best and brightest and rarely draws a major new employer.
Nebraskans upset by Payne’s portrayals of their state refer to the dull, dingy, dysfunctional portraits he paints, forgetting that he is in service to the stories he tells. Some wonder why he doesn’t make Nebraska look better, more colorful, more pleasant, more positive, like the way he portrayed California or Hawaii, once again forgetting that aside from the countryside and oceanside idylls briefly glimpsed in those pictures he mainly showed the seamy, messy undersides of people’s personal travails.
What Payne-bashers largely don’t get is that his “negative” depictions stand out because outside of the films he makes in Nebraska, virtually no other films made there get seen by anything approaching a mass audience. If there were five or ten other filmmakers giving their take on Nebraska then it would be a very different conversation because there would be multiple storylines, interpretations, inclinations, perspectives, not just his. New Yorkers don’t complain that Woody Allen only concerns himself with the foibles of upper middle class and upper crust Manhattan. Los Angelenos don’t take Quentin Tarantino to task for his focus on violent denizens of the L.A. underworld. Each of those filmmakers is one of many putting a lens on those cities and so the vision and voice of Allen and Tarantino become part of a much greater and diverse whole that contains many different visions and voices. It only follows then that there are many varied looks at New York and L.A. for the taking, some of which may conform to residents’ own views and some of which may not. The point is, there is more than enough to go around for you to find something that speaks to you. Unless and until more features get made in Nebraska by more filmmakers, Payne’s personal, idiosyncratic representations of the state will remain the predominant ones, if not the only ones. Don’t expect him to change. He is only being true to his material and to himself. Hard to fault someone for that, especially when his films are heralded, and rightly so, for the fidelity of their vision. He doesn’t pretend his Nebraska films are true to life portraits of all Nebraskans or of all Nebraska He is only being true to the characters and settings of his stories. That is the singular world he plays God over.
It would be good too for folks to consider that in Nebraska Payne and screenwriter Bob Nelson have delivered archetypal characters and settings that are true to Nebraska, yes, but to a whole universe of other places as well. The equivalents of Woody and his orbit of quirky family and friends can be found everywhere.
Nebraskans bent out of shape by the bad light they think Payne casts them, in should remember he is an artist unbound by marketing motivations. He has no desire, nor should he, to skew his work to reflect some fanciful postcard image of this or any other place to placate critics or to make insecure folks feel better about themselves. Besides, Payne gives far more back to the state than any potential “damage” his films do because were it not for him bringing his films there Nebraska would have no Hollywood production of any sustained size, much less any kind of frequency. Outside of his About Schmidt and Nebraska and apart from some micro-budgeted indies (under a million dollars) one would be hard pressed to name another Hollywood project that shot in state for more than a couple days in the last dozen years. His commitment to growing the film industry there is well-documented.
Oh, and by the way, using the state’s name as the title for his acclaimed film is a gift that will keep on giving as long as the film endures and in my estimation the film will long outlast any silly quibbles or dissatisfaction from the nitwits who want him to make Nebraska look like everywhere else. Payne actually cares enough to show facets of Nebraska exactly as they are, without artificial adornments that become distortions of his overriding concern – the truth. He also cares enough to faithfully show his home land as it has never been seen before on the big screen. I dare say with Nebraska he has given most natives and residents a glimpse at their own state they have never beheld. That is more than most art and entertainment delivers. Indeed, by repeatedly bringing the industry to his home state through the films he makes and the cinema figures he hosts he does far more than what most of the people who purportedly have Nebraska’s best interests at heart, i.e. state business leaders and elected officials, do. Outside of Warren Buffett he is the state’s leading ambassador to the nation and to the world and the impact he and his work have in enhancing the state’s name is incalculable. Should he never make another film in Nebraska again (in fact he immediately did, by shooting part of Downsizing there.) he will have endowed the state with four significant works that bear its imprint and inspiration and in the case of his latest work, its name. Although Sideways and The Descendants were made elsewhere they cannot be considered apart from his Nebraska quartet. The way Payne observes the human condition and the way he navigates the world in his personal and professional life is inextricably linked to his native experience. He carries it with him wherever he goes. His Nebraskan sensibility informs everything he does. That is why you can only separate his two features made outside Nebraska from his features made in Nebraska on the most superficial levels. Apart from the specific physical locations he must be true to and is, all his films, no matter where they are set and filmed, are cut from the same cloth emotionally and dramatically speaking. Thus, all his work bears a stamp of Nebraska on it. Besides, Nebraskans rightfully claim all his triumphs, regardless of where they were executed, as a part of their own. As a fellow Nebraskan myself, I certainly do. Payne’s affinity for his home state is already one of the great documented love affairs an artist has had with his place of origin and with any luck at all he will only keep adding to this singular narrative.
Payne’s Nebraska a blend of old and new as he brings Indiewood back to the state and reconnects with tried and true crew on his first black and white film
Published in a 2012 issue of The Reader
Coming home in black and white
Alexander Payne’s decision to make Nebraska in his home state brought into sharp relief some realities with large implications for his own work and prospects for more studio films getting made here.
The state’s favorite son had not shot a single frame here since About Schmidt in 2001. With Nebraska, whose principal photography went from October 15 through November, he continued a tradition of shooting here and surrounding himself with crew with whom he has a long history. Some key locals are part of his creative team, too, including one metro resident he calls “my secret weapon.”
Aesthetically and technically speaking, Payne also stretched himself by lensing for the first time in black and white, wide screen and digital. He said abandoning celluloid marks a concession to the new digital norm and to the fact today’s black and white film stock options are limited.
Cinematographer Phedon Papamichael said digital “allows us to work more with natural light and not have to carry a larger equipment package. We did specific black and white tests to choose the texture and quality in terms of contrast and film grain level we want for the picture. So we went into it knowing exactly where we want to be at.”
Natural light and locations
Papamichael added, “Digital means needing less light, so we can do tighter interiors, which is important on this show because we’re entirely a location picture. We don’t have anything built. A lot of these interior spaces are very small and whatever space we can save in terms of lighting and camera equipment is helpful. Rather than having traditional bigger car rigs and following cars with camera cars we’re able to just get in the car hand-held. Also, these newer cameras allow us to do good car work without lighting. It just helps the whole natural feel we’re going for.”
At the end of the day, said Payne, digital “doesn’t matter to me because my process stays exactly the same.” His process is all about arriving at the truth. Capturing the windswept plains and fall after-harvest season figured prominently in that this time. Papamichael and Payne sought ways to juxtapose characters with the prairie, the open road and small town life milieu. In a story of taciturn people rooted to the land and whose conversations consist of terse exchanges, context and subtext are everything. Therefore, the filmmakers extracted all the metaphor and atmosphere possible from actual locations, geography and weather.
Film as business
Payne doesn’t belabor the point but he received pressure from various quarters to shoot the picture elsewhere. The suits pressed going to states with serious film tax credits. Many locales could approximate Nebraska while saving producers money. He finds himself in the awkward position of having lobbied long and hard to try and convince the governor and state legislators to support film incentives only to see his entreaties largely ignored. As much as he and his projects are embraced, his moviemaking forays in the state seem taken for granted. But the fact is he only ended up shooting here because he had the motivation and clout to do so.
If not for Nebraska there would have been no feature film activity of any significance here during 2012. Minus his Citizen Ruth, Election, and Schmidt, the state has precious little feature film activity of any size to show for it. Refusing to cheat the script’s Nebraska settings, Payne brought Indiewood feature filmmaking of scale back home for the first time in a decade. Basing his production in Norfolk provided a boost to the northeast part of the state.
Norfolk director of economic development Courtney Klein-Faust said the total impact the project had on the local economy has yet to be tabulated but that just in lodging alone the production spent more than a half-million dollars accommodating its one hundred cast and crew members. She said the film bought local goods and services whenever possible. She feels the experience will serve as “a case study” for elected officials to assess the trickle down effect of mid-major features and will be used by supporters of tax credits to push for more film industry friendly measures.
AP’s stock company’s master of light Phedon Papamichael
Like many filmmakers who develop a track record of success Payne’s cultivated around him a stock company of crew he works with from project to project. During a mid-November visit to the Nebraska set it was evident he enjoys the same easy rapport with and loyalty to crew he had before his two Oscar wins. The only time this visitor saw Payne betray even mild upset came after a principal actor was not in place when ready to roll and the filmmaker emphatically tapped his watch as if to say, “Time is money.” He expressed mild frustration when cows drifted out of frame and it took awhile for production assistants to wrangle them back in position.
On Nebraska he collaborated for the third consecutive time with Papamichael, the director of photography for The Descendants and Sideways. Their relationship entered a new dimension as they devised a black and white and widescreen visual palette to accentuate Nebraska’s stark characters and settings. That meant fixing on the right tools to capture that look.
“We did a bunch of testing and dialed in a look we’d like for our black and white because there are many different ways to go about black and white,” said Papamichael. Some of the expressive light and shadow images extracted by Papamichael and Payne recall memorable black and white treatments from cinema past, including Shadow of a Doubt, Night of the Hunter, Touch of Evil and It’s a Wonderful Life.
Seeking and getting the right look
“It’s not really a film noir look, it’s definitely a high con(trast) with natural lighting” Papamichael said. “We were very diligent in selecting our lens package, which is Panavision C Series anamorphic. That’s from the ‘70s, so it has a little bit of a less defined, less sharp quality and that helps the look. We’re adding quite a bit of actual film grain to it which will feel like you’re watching a film projection. We’re even talking about possibly adding some projector flicker imposed. So we’re really going for a film look. And through a series of tests we’ve been able to achieve that.”
A week into filming, Papamichael was pleased by what he and Payne cultivated. “There’s an overall excitement the whole crew has. Everybody feels we’re doing something very special and unique and the black and white has a lot to do with it. After you work with it for awhile it becomes the way you see things. In a way we’re learning the power of black and white as we go. We’re really coming to appreciate and love the poetic power of the black and white in combination with these landscapes and, of course, the landscapes are playing a huge role in this story – just scaling the human drama and comedy. The black and white is becoming a very powerful character in this film just in terms of setting the mood for this.”
Grizzled Bruce Dern as the gone-to-seed protagonist Woody is a walking emblem of the forlorn but enduring fields and played out towns that form the story’s backdrop. His tangle of white hair resembles shocks of frosted wheat. His drab working man clothes hang on him as if he’s a scarecrow. His gait is halting and he lists to one side. His Woody is as worn and weathered as the abandoned farmhouse of the character’s youth. But just like the artifacts of Woody’s past, this physical-emotional derelict holds on from sheer cussedness.
Papamichael said part of the fun became “discovering Bruce Dern’s great visual qualities – his face, the textures and everything that are emphasized through the black and white.”
The film’s full of Nebraskesque places and faces. There’s that farmhouse a few minutes outside Plainview. There’s the town of Plainview itself standing in for the fictional Hawthorne. There’s an American Legion hall, some bars, farm implement dealerships and mottled fields full of lowing cows. There are earnest farmers, shopkeeps, housewives and barmaids, plain as the day is long.
“Alexander is very diligent about finding the exact right spot for everything,” said Papamichael. The original screenplay is by Bob Nelson, whose parents grew up in the very northeast environs of the state the film’s set in. He’s also impressed by how rigorous Payne is in location scouting. Nelson said “I think he’s done a great job of finding a combination of things around Norfolk. I’ve seen the location photos and it’s pretty stunning to see it in black and white. You know it has that The Last Picture Show quality to it. It is funny to see these things that were in your mind, like the abandoned farmhouse, come to life. I don’t know how they found it, it must have been a chore, but they came up with a good one. Almost everything I saw was spot-on perfect.”
The locations are pregnant with memories and incidents, thus Payne and Papamichael chose ones most reflecting the characters and situations and they cast actors and nonactors alike who most represent these places and lifestyles. “For him it’s not all about trying to capture something truthful and comedically grim about the American landscape but also something archetypal,” said producer Albert Berger.
Completing the stock company
Whenever Payne works with Papamichael it means inheriting the camera and lighting crew the celebrated DP brings with him, including chief lighting technician Rafael Sanchez and key grip Ray Garcia.
Boom operator Jonathan Fuh is a regular on Payne sets as well as costume designer Wendy Chuck.
Then there’s veteran Payne collaborator Jose Antonio Garcia, the sound mixer on the writer-director’s last three films. George Parra goes back as far as Election in capacities ranging from assistant director to co-producer to production manager. He executive produced Nebraska.
Production designer Jane Ann Stewart had been on every Payne show since Citizen Ruth but J. Dennis Washington took over that job on Nebraska. Interestingly, a Hollywood art director who lives in Nebraska, Sandy Veneziano, joined the crew to mark her first Payne production. Omaha resident Jamie Vesay, a key assistant location manager, crewed along with other locals, including set medic Kevin O’Leary.
Screenwriter Nelson is a Nebraskan by proxy. His folks hailed from Hartington and growing up in the Pacific Northwest he visited relatives back here, several of whom were models for his characters. Woody is closely patterned after his father. Payne conferred with Nelson as he tweaked the writer’s work. “Yeah, every time I’d do a pass on the script I’d send it to him and see what he thought, and he seemed to like it,” Payne said. “Sometimes there were certain moments or a certain scene I’d want a little more information about. Like one scene I really like in the script is when the family visits the house where Woody grew up and it’s now an abandoned farmhouse. And there Woody delivers a speech about having found the hail adjuster’s knife in the field, and it’s really the only time Woody speaks in the film, and I just remember asking Bob where that came from.”
Nelson said that American Gothic scene when Woody tells his son David (WIll Forte) “a story about how the hell adjustor tried to screw them out of their insurance is actually a true story based on visiting an uncle near Wausa on his farm. That’s almost verbatim.” Payne said Nelson also helped inform some creative decisions. “He sent me some old photographs of his actual family from Hartington to serve as something of a reference for casting and costuming.”
Casting director John Jackson
The colleague Payne refers to as “my secret weapon,” casting director John Jackson of Council Bluffs, is undoubtedly the most influential local in the filmmaker’s close circle of collaborators. “We just have really similar tastes and in honing our working method since 1995 we just have developed a very similar aesthetic of what we want to see in a film, the type of reality we want,” Payne said of Jackson. “And also I think the two of us have developed a pretty good eye for spotting acting talent in nonactors—talent they may not even know they have —and by talent I just mean the ability to be in front of a camera playing some version of themselves and saying dialogue believably and without getting freaked out.”
“People can be cinematic just by being themselves and being appropriately placed where they need to be, people can be brilliant by just doing what they do, listening or talking or moving,” said Jackson, who along with Payne is excited about several of their nonactor discoveries on Nebraska. “Glendora Stitt, the woman that plays Aunt Betty, what a find. Dennis McCoIg, who plays Uncle Cecil, is like Gary Cooper. Scott Goodman, the barista who served me at the Scooters drive-thru in Norfolk was hilarious without trying and I cast him in a tiny role. John “Jack” Reynolds, who plays Bernie Bowen, an old friend of Woody’s, is right out of a Preston Sturges and Frank Capra movie. He’s the face of the rolling plains and hilariously funny.”
Jackson said he thinks of filling out the people who inhabit any movie, such as Woody’s clan, ”in terms of I’ve got to build the family, and then, ‘Who are the next door neighbors? who are his friends? what do they do for a living?’ I always have a back story for them. It’s not like I sit down and make it up, the script tells me what it is by the things they say.”
“Obviously it’s worked well,” said Payne. “Together we cast Chris Klein, Nick D’Agosto going as far back as Election. In the traditional American filmmaking model for casting you have one casting director, typically out of New York or L.A. or Chicago with whom you cast the lead parts, maybe the top five or 10 or 15 speaking parts. And then if you’re shooting on location you have a second casting person, a local casting person. That’s what John Jackson was for me on the first three films. And then you have a third person who’s in charge of extras. And I somehow thought that one person should be in charge of all of the flesh. There should be one vision guiding all of it. You can’t get anyone in L.A. or New York to do that, so the person I want to do that is John Jackson.” Jackson said his guide in casting is looking at “what does the script say,” and then conferring with Payne. “We talk a lot about the characters in relationship to the text. I frequently find myself asking him questions like, ‘At this point in the movie what do you want the audience to feel? what do you want them to think? what do you want them to say as they walk out of the theater?’ One of the things I learned from him is to look at a moment in the story and to ask questions like, ‘Who’s funnier doing this? who’s more believable doing that? who breaks my heart more?’
“I remember when we were doing Schmidt and it was between this woman in New York, June Squibb, and a woman in L.A. the studio was pushing and I said to him, ‘Well, it has to be her,’ meaning June Squibb, and he said, ‘Why?’ and I said, ‘Because in that moment when she surprises him with the motor home and she’s seated at the table and said, Isn’t it going to be great? you know he’s hating every minute of it. Somebody needs to break my heart, and June Squibb breaks my heart. At that moment I feel for her. I feel pain for him, but I really feel for her, so when she dies I’m going to hurt, whereas this other woman I don’t feel anything.’” Squibb plays Woody’s wife Kate in Nebraska.
“Those are the kinds of conversations we have,” Jackson said of he and Payne. “We never talk about, as other producers do, ‘Well, you know, this person’s presence in the film would be great because they’re so huge in terms of DVD sales.’ I never have those conversations with him. I’ve tried in the past and he’ll just look at me like, ‘What the fuck are you talking about? I don’t want to hear it, I don’t want to know.’ So it’s cleansed me.”
Jackson said he’s learned not to try and anticipate what Payne wants. “He constantly surprises me, he constantly challenges me. I wouldn’t want it any other way. What he’s looking for, I don’t know, I don’t know that he even knows, but I know one thing – when it’s there he recognizes it. That’s alchemy.”
No two projects are alike, Jackson said. “Every single one of these films is a completely different organic living thing and the challenge is to honor that and to help that grow and evolve and become whatever it’s going to become and Alexander is the guide to all of that.”
Payne and longtime editor Kevin Tent will be cutting Nebraska through the spring and the film will likely start playing festivals in late summer-early fall in advance of a end of 2013 general release.
YOU CAN READ THE REST IN THE NEW EDITION OF MY BOOK-
Alexander Payne: His Journey in Film
(The new edition encompasses the Oscar-winning filmmaker’s work from the mid-1990s through Nebraska in 2013 and his new film Downsizing releasing in 2017 )
Now available at Barnes & Noble and other fine booktores nationwide as well as on Amazon and for Kindle. In Nebraska, you can find it at all Barnes & Noble stores, The Bookworm and Our Bookstore in Omaha, Indigo Bridge Books in Lincoln and in select gift shops statewide. You can also order signed copies through the author’s blog leoadambiga.com or via http://www.facebook.com/LeoAdamBiga or by emailing leo32158@cox,net.
For more information. visit– https://www.facebook.com/pg/AlexanderPayneExpert/about/?ref=page_internal
Alexander Payne’s Nebraska comes home to roost
In 1968 Francis Ford Coppola led a small cinema caravan to Ogallala, Nebraska for the final weeks shooting on his independent road pic- ture The Rain People starring Shirley Knight. Joining them were future fellow film legends George Lucas, Bill Butler, Robert Duvall and James Caan.
Now a road pic of another kind, Nebraska, is underway here by native prodigal son Alexander Payne. For his first filming on his home turf since 2001 Payne’s lit out into northeast Nebraska to make a fourth consecutive road movie after the wandering souls of his About Schmidt, Sideways and The Descendants. Nebraska began shooting October 15 around Norfolk, where the production’s headquartered, and will complete thirty five days of principal photography by the end of November. A week of second unit work will run into early December. The project is by Payne, Jim Taylor and Jim Burke’s Ad Hominem Enterprises in collaboration with Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa’s Bona Fide Productions and Paramount Pictures.
Despite proclamations he doesn’t care for road movies, much less shooting in cars, Payne’s once again attached himself to a story of lost and broken people careening to some revelation about themselves. Asked why he keeps returning to this theme or structure, he said, “I have no idea, I personally don’t really like road movies all that much and it’s all I seem to make. No, none of it’s intentional, I’m a victim. Yeah, it just happened.”
Characters hitting the road is a classic metaphorical device for any life-as-journey exploration and Payne’s not so much reinvented this template as made it his own. “I think self-discovery is a big theme in his movies,” said Berger. The protagonist of Schmidt (Jack Nicholson) goes in search of meaning via his mobile home after his life is knocked asunder. In Sideways buddies Miles (Paul Giamatti) and Jack (Thomas Haden Church) indulge in a debauched tour of California wine country that rekindles the love impulse in one and confirms the unreliability of the other. The by-car, boat and foot journey of The Descendants is propelled when Matt King (George Clooney) discovers his dying wife’s infidelity and sets off to find her lover. What he really finds is closure for his pain and the father within him he’d forgotten.
The bickering father-son of Nebraska, Woody (Bruce Dern) and David (Will Forte), hold different agendas for their trek along the highways and byways of Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota and Nebraska. Woody, a unrepentant, alcoholic old coot estranged from everyone in his life, is hellbent on collecting a sweepstakes prize that doesn’t exist. David, the good-hearted but exasperated son, decides
to placate his pops by promising to drive him from Billings. Montana to the prize company’s home office in Lincoln, Nebraska by way of sev- eral detours. He’s sure his father will come to his senses long before their destination.
This mismatched pair’s road-less-traveled adventure in the son’s Suzuki Forenza finds them passing through Woody’s old haunts, including his hometown, the fictional Hawthorne, Nebraska, a composite of Hartington, Wausa, Bloomfield, Norfolk and other rural burgs. At nearly every stop they encounter the detritus from Woody’s life, which like the broken down Ford pickup in his garage he can’t get to run is a shambles of regret and recrimination. Woody’s made the fool wherever he goes. A longtime nemesis, Ed Pegram (Stacy Keach), is a menacing presence. By story’s end this father-son journey becomes a requiem. To salve his father’s broken spirit David performs a simple act of grace that involves a valedictory cruise down main street that gives Woody the last laugh.
Coming to Nebraska-Nebraska
Producer partners Berger and Yerxa (Little Miss Sunshine), who shepherded Payne’s Election in conjunction with Paramount and MTV Films (1999), brought Bob Nelson’s original script for Nebraska to the filmmaker’s attention a decade ago. Payne said, “Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa had gotten a hold of it, and asked me to read it, not thinking I would want to direct it myself. They wanted to know if there was some young up and coming Nebraska director I knew about who could make it for a very, very low sum, and I read it and I liked it and I said, ‘How about me and for a sum not quite so low?’ And so it was, and they’ve been kind enough to wait for me these eight or nine years since I first read it.
“I read it before making Sideways but I didn’t want to follow up Sideways with another road trip. I was tired of shooting in cars. I didn’t think it would take this long, I didn’t think Downsizing (his comedy about miniaturization) would take so long to write in between. And then The Descendants came along and now I’ve circled back around to this austere Nebraska road trip story.”
The story’s essential appeal for Payne is its deceptive simplicity. “I liked its austerity, I liked its deadpan humor, I like how the writer clearly was writing about people he knew and representing them faithfully to a certain degree but also sardonically. And I’ve never seen a deadpan, almost Jim Jarmusch sort of comedy that takes place in rural Nebraska.”
A black and white palette
The barren, existential landscape should find ample expressive possibilities in the black-and-white, wide-screen visuals Payne and cinematographer Phedon Papamichael (Sideways, The Descendants) plan capturing. Papamichael said the palette they’ve hit upon after much testing emphasizes natural lighting and texture. They’re using a high contrast stock from the ‘70s that’s less sharp or defined. Film grain is being added to it. “We’re really coming to appreciate and love the poetic power of the black and white in combination with these landscapes,” said Papamichael, “and of course the landscapes are playing a huge role in this story. It’s scaling the human drama and comedy with this vast landscape. It’s a road movie but it’s also a very intimate, small personal story.”
“Well, I certainly wanted to make one feature film in my career in black and white because black and white when well-done is just so beautiful,” said Payne. “And I knew that whatever film I made in black and white couldn’t have a huge budget, so this one seemed to lend itself to that that way. Then also in reading it I wanted the austerity of the characters and of their world represented also in a fairly austere way and I thought black and white in the fall could be very nice. By that I mean ideally after the trees have lost their leaves – to just get that look. Sometimes where you’re in rural America there is a certain timeless quality in all those small towns which have the old buildings. You know, change comes slowly to these places.” In terms of visual models, he said, “we’ve looked at a number of black and white films and pho- tographs but it’s not like I’m consciously saying, ‘Oh, Walker Evans or Dorothea Lange’ (or The Last Picture Show) or something like that. No, not really. I mean, I’ve seen them. We’re just going to follow in- stinct in how this one should look like.”
Albert Berger on Payne and process
Berger supports Payne’s aesthetic choice, though it came with a price and a fight as Paramount execs reportedly resisted the decision to forgo color. But Payne and Papamichael held firm. Berger feels the project gives Payne a new creative space to work in. “I always was excited artistically about what he was trying to accomplish,” said Berger. “Clearly we would have gotten a lot more money if we didn’t film in black and white and life would have been a lot easier for the production. Alexander’s films have always had a very authentic look. He’s obviously a great appreciator of cinema and he has a wonderful eye and I think in a way this is his first opportunity to showcase a more iconic, archetypal look.”
Payne may just do for the north Sand Hills what John Ford did for Utah’s Monument Valley in capturing a certain beautiful desolation. The play of light on wind, barns, trees and wide open spaces offers evocative chiaroscuro possibilities. “I think it’s exciting to see what he and Phedon will come up with here,” said Berger. “And it’s scope as well and so that will add yet another dimension. And digital for the first time for him and it’s going to be interesting how that helps us getting in tight spaces like cars and using low level lighting. There’s all sorts of tools at his disposal on this one that he hasn’t had before.”
Berger’s come to know Payne’s meticulous eye for finding locations and actors that ring true. “Once the script is right and once the cast and the locations are in place I feel he’s completely ready to make the movie. I wouldn’t say the rest is easy but I think that is the critical bedrock upon which his movies are made. I think he’s a filmmaker who’s completely in-tune with what he’s trying to say both emotionally and comedically. It’s been a real pleasure to be able to watch this evolution in his work.”
Payne said the more specific the character on the page the harder it is to cast, which is why his search for the right Woody and David took so long. “I just know in the time frame in which I was trying to get this film made these guys rose to the top of my research and struck me and John Jackson, my casting director, as being the right fit,” he said of Dern and Forte.
The irascible Woody proved most difficult. “In this case Woody’s a very, very specifically rendered character and I just couldn’t plug any actor in there,” Payne said. He interviewed-auditioned many, including big names. For the longest time no one matched his conceptions. “In today’s world it was kind of hard to find someone whom I believed in that part and I didn’t want it to change the character of Woody.” No compromising.
He finally found his Woody in Bruce Dern, whose daughter Laura Dern starred in Payne’s Citizen Ruth and remains a close friend. What made Papa Dern (Silent Running, Coming Home, Family Plot) the perfect Woody? “Well, he’s of the right age now and he can be both ingenuous and ornery. And he’s a cool actor. And in a contextual level I haven’t seen on the big screen a great Bruce Dern performance in a few years and I’m curious to see what he can do. He’s a helluva nice guy as well.”
Dern and Will Forte (Saturday Night Live) didn’t meet until they arrived in Norfolk in early October to participate in table readings with other principal cast. Any chemistry they produce will be worked out on set. That’s how it worked between Giamatti and Haden Church on Sideways. “I cast those two guys in Sideways separately. They never met before ten days or two weeks before we started shooting. Or George Clooney and Shailene Woodley, they had never met before. I’ve just had good luck with that. Actors know it’s their job to develop some sort of chemistry, hopefully not force it but develop it, and then of course film has a wonderful capacity to lie.”
The casting of Forte surprised many. Not surprisingly, Payne has a considered rationale for the choice. “Will Forte, physically, I believed could be the son of Bruce Dern and June Squibb (who play’s Woody’s long-suffering wife, Kate). and then I just believe him as a guy I would know around Omaha or meet in Billings. He has a very, very believable quality. And I also think for the character of David he is capable of communicating a certain wide-eyed quality toward life and also damage – like he’s been damaged somehow, somewhere.”
A singular story by Bob Nelson
Payne’s confident he has a stand-alone project. “I don’t think you would have seen anyone portray characters like these before. I mean, I’ve never seen exactly this movie with exactly this dynamic.” Payne revised Bob Nelson’s script alone, then had Phil Johnston (Cedar Rapids) take a pass, before revising it again. He admires how close the material is to Nelson’s experience. “His parents were from Hartington, Nebraska and I think Wausa (Nebraska) but he grew up in Snohomish Washington. You know how other people summer in the south of France or the Caribbean? Well, this guy used to summer in Hartington, that’s where he would spend time with his many uncles on his father’s side.” Nelson confirms the hard-tack individualists and towns of Nebraska are composites of relatives and places there and in rural Washington, though Woody is directly based on his late father. He darkened characters and incidents for dramatic effect and invented the sweepstakes storyline. Nelson’s best-known writing credit before Nebraska was for the award-winning Seattle television show, It’s Almost Live. He meant to shop his feature script around L.A. but it quickly got into the hands of Payne, who instantly committed to making it and never reneged. Getting Payne behind it, he said, “changed everything.”
To his surprise and delight, Payne didn’t overhaul his script. “I’m pretty sure I would have been happy no matter what he did with it because I believed in him as a filmmaker. The fact that so much of my dialogue and so many of the scenes remain is really almost unheard of if you have a writer-director taking over,” Nelson said. “That’s another thing that impressed me. I could tell he didn’t go in and try to turn it into his own screenplay. He wasn’t driven to put his own stamp on it just to do that. He went through it and thoughtfully changed things he thought could use changing but he left in things he thought could work well. For that I’ll always be grateful. “When he’s rewriting it I think he’s turning in a way already into
a director who’s thinking, ‘Do I really want to shoot this scene and do I want to shoot it like that? Is there anything that could make this better?’ You can almost see that going on in his mind. The one thing you hope when your work is adapted is that it will be made better and he’s one of the few guys in Hollywood you’re almost certain will make it better. I really trust him.”
Rooted in Nebraska
Payne rooted the production in Norfolk after a long search. “I spent a year driving around Nebraska when I had free time—a wonderful education on the state. I considered places like Columbus, Grand Island, Hastings, but I landed on Norfolk because Norfolk has a pretty good number of small towns of about fifteen hundred people orbiting it, and maybe it’s also no coincidence that that’s the area Robert Nelson was writing about. Hartington is within spitting distance of Norfolk.”
Earlier this year Payne and Papamichael followed the route Woody and David make in the film, traveling for three days in a Toyota owned by Payne’s mother, Peggy, “just to get a feel for the land,” said Papamichael. “He really wanted to convey the feeling of the land to me and that was very helpful. I took a lot of black and white stills.” Nelson, who’s seen footage and visited the set, said the film’s locations are spot-on.
Finalizing locations and cast members led Payne to make certain tweaks. “Yeah, as it always does,” he said. “I start incorporating locations more into the script and I might steal a line of dialogue or two from an actor in an audition who can’t remember his line or adds an improv that I think is quite good. Or as I’m going along I just think of things which could be better.” He’s continued tinkering.
After seven years between his last two features he’s moving quickly from project to project now. He expects to jump from Nebraska, whose editing he should finish in the spring, into Wilson, his adaptation of the Daniel Clowes’ graphic novel slated to shoot on the west coast next fall.
When a film becomes a film: the shaping of Nebraska A shorter version of this story appeared in a 2013 issue of The Reader
After wrapping the Nebraska shoot the end of 2012 Alexander Payne holed up with editor Kevin Tent in L.A. to edit the film starting Jan. 7 and finally put the project to bed the beginning of August. When I caught up with Payne and a small post crew in mid-May at The Lot in Old Hollywood they were mere days from completing a mix before the film’s world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in Nice, France.
The edit-mix process is one few outside the inner circle are allowed to witness. It’s where a film becomes a film. Over a four-day period at the Audio Head post facility, with its long console of digital controls and theater projection screen, I watch Payne, Tent, mixer Patrick Cyccone, sound designer Frank Gaeta, music editor Richard Ford and others engage in the rather anal exercise of extracting nuance from the minutiae of sound and image, time and space that comprise a film.
I ask Payne how much more can really be massaged this late into the edit. I mean, isn’t the soundtrack a relatively simple proposition?
The art and science of sound mixing
“Seemingly simple,” he said. “There’s always little complicated stuff to modulate and calibrate.” It may be a snippet of dialogue or the sound of a character walking across a wood floor or music from a jukebox or the rustle of wind. It may be how long or short an actor’s beat or a shot is held. Nothing’s too small or incidental to escape scrutiny. Anything even vaguely amiss is ripe for “a fix” often only arrived at after several adjustments that might involve raising a level here, dropping a level there, sweetening the pot with a bank of recorded sounds or snipping a frame.
To the untrained eye and ear, few problems appear obvious or even to be flaws at all. Many are flat out undetectable until brought to your attention. But to the hyper-attuned Payne and his crew, who’ve watched the footage hundreds, even thousands of times, the slightest element out of synch is a jarring distraction. When something really bothers Payne he’s apt to say, “That’s hideous.”
There’s a poignant scene in Robert Nelson’s original screenplay when taciturn protagonist Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) looks out on a field spread before his family’s old abandoned farmhouse and relates a childhood story to his son David (Will Forte) about his father, a hail adjustor and a knife. I was visiting the northeast Nebraska set in November when the scene was shot. The rather barren, wind-swept location with its forlorn wooden farmhouse and rough-hewn harvested fields made an evocative backdrop for the nostalgic moment. But the part where Woody reveals this incident from the past didn’t make it in the final cut because try as he might Payne decided it just didn’t work.
“You know, so much of filmmaking is if you can’t make a perfect omelette you try to make perfect scrambled eggs,” he said. “So we just cut the scene down.” As I glimpse the mix process Payne asks me more than once, “Are you finding this interesting or are you bored out of your skull?” I admit the attention to detail is surprising, to which he replies, “It’s all important though . . . because there’s always discovery. You’re discovering it frame by frame. Ways to make it delightful so it never breaks the spell it has over the audience. Kevin (Tent) and I will have knock down-drag out fights over two frames, over tenths of a second.” I ask if he ever fears he’s micromanaging the life out of a picture. “I never worry about that,” Payne answers.
Fractions of frames and seconds
Even to the filmmakers themselves the fixes can be hard to quantify. At the end of July Payne told me in a phone interview, “I was just watch- ing the film with Phedon (Papamichael), the DP. He had seen it in Cannes and then he saw it again here in L.A. and he said, ‘It feels so much better,’ I mean, it’s the same movie but after Cannes Kevin and I came back and spent two weeks doing some more picture cutting. Two frames here, six frames there, 12 frames there, you know, fractions of seconds. And we did another pass of course on the mix. We remixed it. It smoothed out some of the way the music was functioning. It made it less repetitive and more emotional. Film is in detail and squeezing that last one, two, three, four percent out of a film like in any creative work makes a big difference. And there’s nothing you can even concretely point to. It just feels better, it just feels more like a real movie.”
Tent, who’s edited all of Payne’s features, said the filmmaker is “more involved than most (directors) with the small details.” Payne said what makes he and Tent a good team is, “number one we get along really well and number two we both want to be and are the actor’s best friend. We go through the takes over and over again to make sure we’re getting the best stuff up on screen in terms of what represents the actor’s work and then, of course, what’s appropriate for the character. And then beyond that I think we both have a pretty good storytelling sense—telling a story effectively and making it rhythmic.”
Located on Santa Monica Boulevard, The Lot owns a storied history as the Fairbanks-Pickford Studio and original home of United Artists. For most of its life though it was the Warner Hollywood Studio that served as the smaller sister studio to the main Warner Brothers Studio in Burbank. Some film-television production still happens in the cavernous sound stages there but today it’s mostly a post site for finishing films. It’s one of countless L.A. industry venues where films of every imaginable type are supported and tweaked behind closed doors. It’s safe to say two-time Oscar-winner Payne was the star resident client at The Lot with his Cannes-bound project.
Payne’s sixth feature enjoyed a warm reception at the fabled film bazaar, where star Bruce Dern won the Best Actor prize. Payne, who accepted the award for Dern, said even a stellar performance like Dern’s is partly shaped in the editing room. “It’s definitely what the actor’s doing but its also the work of editing where you’re combing through and getting the best of every set up and then creating both from what they gave you and from what you’re choosing and culling as absolutely necessary to tell the story. You tease out a great consistency to performance and to the creation of the character and then once we do that the work the actor’s done really starts to pop. Bruce did a good job.”
During my visit last spring to the Audio Head suite Payne introduced me to the insular post production world where he and his crew were under the gun preparing the film for its Cannes debut. “We’ve been working twelve-hour days. It’s been very much a mad dash to the finish because we’re getting ready for Mr. Frenchy,” Payne said to me shortly upon my arrival.
Notes and tweaks
Nebraska is a six-reel picture. Each pass through a reel takes put to six hours. It’s time consuming because each team member has notes made from previous screenings of what fixes need addressing. With each successive pass, there are new notes to respond to. After a screening of the twenty-minute reel five with a running time count on the screen Payne said to his collaborators, “I have a bunch of little things, so maybe we should fast track.” After noting several areas of concern and the corresponding time they appear in the reel, everything from extraneous noises to wanting some bits louder and others quieter, he said, “Sorry, I have a lot of notes here guys.”
Then Payne invites Tent and the others to chime in with their own notes. Payne interjects, “I’m looking froward to our whole film playback so we can gauge all of these things.” He asks for input from personal assistant and aspiring filmmaker Anna Musso and first assistant editor Mindy Elliott before asking, “Anyone else?”That’s how it rolls, day after day.
During my stay I watch an uninterrupted playback of the entire film at a large screening room on the Paramount lot with Payne and the edit-mix team poised with notepads and pens in laps. Several folks are moved to tears despite having seen the film countless times. For the duration of the edit-mix the post crew becomes Payne’s family. It’s the most time intensive segment of creating a film. “I spend more time with the post production crew than with the other (the shooting crew) and each thinks it’s THE filmmaking family. Many of them never meet each other. But I meet all of them, down to the musicians who play on it or to the guy who designs the titles.”
Recently, Payne told me that post work on Nebraska took twenty eight weeks but even with that it still marked the shortest “period of time I’ve posted a film. I think The Descendants was about thirty eight weeks total. And in these twenty eight weeks I took time out to go to Cannes, I took a week off after Cannes. I went to Bologna, Italy to watch old movies. Even within there it’s been a faster process than my previous films.”
Ever since he began talking about Nebraska he’s described his vision for it as “austere,” referring to the small budget ($12 million), tight shoot schedule (six weeks), short script (ninety five pages) and minimal camera set-ups. The script’s lack of a voiceover motif, something most of his films have featured, was the biggest time saver in the edit room. “It was shot in a more austere style so I had fewer camera angles to do deal with. I wanted to be complete in my coverage but very limited in the coverage and to have as much play out as possible in single takes, and cut as little as possible. Plus no voiceover. Ask anybody who does a voiceover picture—voiceover adds a whole level of time to the editing of the film to calibrate, to get the voice over just right. It’s a rather musical element really. Dramatic and musical.” He said he was never tempted to impose a narrator on the story. “Absolutely not, no way, that’s not how it’s conceived. Voiceover isn’t something you decide to add later. Usually people only do that when the film’s in trouble. For me, voiceover’s always been an integral part of the conception of a film.”
Although a purely aesthetic choice, the film’s middle range black and white photography that’s neither expressionistic nor impressionistic is congruent with its austerity, Payne said Paramount, the studio that bankrolled the picture and is releasing it this fall, initially resisted his making it in black and white because that’s what suits and bean counters do to appease shareholders. Payne held out and when push came to shove he got his way. “They said they were glad I stuck to my guns because they like it so much. They’ve been great. I’ve had a great experience with Paramount, honestly. Once we were able to make it at a budget level they were comfortable with given the fact it was black and white with no major stars in a non-rebate state then I couldn’t have asked for a more supportive group. I couldn’t be more happy about it.”
So was their resistance a bluff to see how committed he was to black and white? “Kind of,” he said. “I mean, they want you to, they don’t want you to, which is fine, that’s their job. Color makes more money apparently. But they trusted me and then it’s just about the budget at that point.” “I guess I traded in my last Oscar for a black and white movie,” Payne adds jokingly.
Heart and soul getting personal
It’s a black and white movie with perhaps more heart and soul than Payne realized. After living with the film for months he recognized it has more emotional depth than he initially appreciated and part of that was him informing the story with things from his own life. “The script had a kind of deadpan hilarity. I think the direction and the acting and the music are bringing out a lot of sweetness in the film thats making it a more heartfelt film than maybe the screenplay might have suggested at first glance.
“The other thing, too, I was able to make it quite personal in certain details related to David taking care of his older folks. I’m at that age and everyone I know of my generation is at that age where our parents are getting on and need a little special attention. We love them to death and they drive us crazy as we figure out how to take care of them and accommodate them and all those things, including how far do we extend ourselves to be dutiful and at what point do we cut it off. All those questions. I was able to insert some of my own experiences with that in the film. Even though I didn’t originate it it wound up being because of the time in my life when I was making it quite personal and I think that helps the film. It always helps a film if you can put some of yourself in there.” Payne’s pleased by a common refrain he hears from those who’ve seen the film. “A lot of people tell me it makes them think about their parents and I was stopped a number of times in the street in Cannes by people who’d seen the film who said, ‘I was very touched by the film.’”
Woody Grant, the geezer Bruce Dern plays so effectively, is a wreck and wretch demanding attention be paid near the end of a misspent life. Payne’s appreciation for the character and the way Dern portrays him grew during the project. He said Woody has “a lot more in common” with the title character Jack Nicholson played in Payne’s About Schmidt than he might have imagined. While Woody’s not as articulate as Schmidt is by the end, both share a similar existential angst about the value of their lives. “People sometimes come to the end of their lives and are overwhelmed with the feeling they have nothing to show for it. I think that’s certainly whats driving Woody’s crazy mission (to redeem a worthless sweepstakes prize mailer) in some part.”
While Payne finds “kind of sweet the smallness of Woody’s dreams” —he only wants a new pickup truck and a compressor—he said Woody’s admission that he wants “to leave something” for his boys is generous but also selfish. “He wants to know he’s done something.” David, the sweet son who elects to take Woody on the road trip to retrieve the prize, feels many things about his father during the course of that journey but by the end, Payne said, it’s “unconditional love.” He said David is a classic case of “how you seek the love of those who belittle you. Look at his father, who’s a nothing anyway, and how he has to take out his low esteem by belittling others, including his son. So I think the end is complicated. He’s still seeking approval but also granting a last wish.”
Along the way, said Payne, David “finds some understanding” for why his father is the way he is. “Like the graveyard scene with the irreverent things the mother is saying about all the deceased but David is taking all this in for the first time and learning. And when they go to the old farmhouse and then in the bar. Why did you have us? David asks his dad. Well, I liked to screw, Woody said. Again it’s kind of a weird, disturbing yet comic scene. David drank the elixir and is able to wander into his father’s turf and ask him questions he never asked him before.”
Payne said his appreciation for Will Forte’s work also “deepened.” As the sweet son desperate for approval Forte plays a guileless Everyman we all know from our own lives.
Little seen America
The film is filled with sweet and savory small town archetypes. After the Cannes screening Payne said many viewers commented, “We haven’t seen these Americans in a long time. It’s as though they’re forgotten. We never see them in the cinema,” referring to the average types that populate the pic. “I thought it interesting they really feel they’re seeing Americans they’ve never seen before. Of course I really appreciate that. I’ve been saying for a long time Americans make films but not American films about Americans. We make cartoons easily digestible for the rest of the world. But we’re not showing ourselves to ourselves.
“I like when art is a mirror somehow to represent or reflect or distort or refract just to see ourselves, like our film in the ‘70s was, to see common people doing every day things to some degree. It makes me think of what Martin Scorsese said in his documentary about Elia Kazan—that when he was a kid and saw the faces from the street used in On the Waterfront suddenly it was as though the people he knew mattered. People want to see themselves. In general we Americans need to see Americans we recognize in our films but we kind of don’t. Within that to see Midwesterners is an even more uncommon thing.”
The film is a singular Nebraskaesque work. There’s the title, which has never graced a feature before. Then there’s the rarely seen northeast Nebraska locale and by extension the rarely glimpsed denizens of its rural hamlets. And the film’s writer and director both have strong Nebraska ties. Of all the Nebraskans who’ve gone on to Hollywood careers few have been filmmakers. Payne’s the only one to have returned to make films here about the people and places he knows. “Yeah, it’s as though the people I knew mattered and in that way I think I’m lucky I’m from Nebraska in that I have a virgin territory to show in movies,” he said. “And maybe the fact I’ve seen so many movies informs the fact that I can know even unconsciously what would be new. I don’t want to make derivative films. I want to do something new.
“Rachel Jacobson asked me to program a series of films in the fall at Film Streams that have influenced this one and I kind of can’t think of any. Maybe I can, but in general I can’t. It’s like the Latin phrase, suis generis – of its own kind or genus.”
Nothing particularly emphatic or dramatic happens in the story. The NEBRASKA 245
way Payne puts it is: “The movie has a lot of anti-climaxes,” What does happen is authentic and delivering the truth is always his overriding goal, which is why he’s “proud” of the work of the nonactors he and casting director John Jackson found for the film.
Payne’s among the leaders of the Indiewood movement that finds filmmakers like himself making independent movies with studio backing. He’s defied all odds by not having a single critical miss in his growing body of work. His last three features (About Schmidt, Sideways, The Descendants) have been commercial successes.
How Nebraska fares is anyone’s guess but it’s well positioned to generate buzz between its Cannes reception and expected screenings at the Telluride and New York Film Festivals. After the film opens in late November it should be a prime contender come awards season.
The Nov. 24 Film Streams Feature Event welcomes Payne, Dern and Forte in conversation with Kurt Andersen.
Local color: Payne and Co. mine the prairie poetry of Nebraska
Local color, of the achingly human variety, is where Alexander Payne’s new black and white film Nebraska most deeply comes to life. After fall festival premieres abroad and across the U.S., Payne’s coming home to show off the film named for his native state and primarily shot and set here. Nebraska had an exclusive limited run at Film Streams. On Nov. 24 Payne joins stars Bruce Dern and Will Forte at the Holland Per- forming Arts Center for the sold-out Film Streams fundraiser, Feature V, that will find the troika interviewed on stage by Studio 360 host and novelist Kurt Andersen. The following day Payne and Dern travel to Norfolk, Nebraska, the production’s base camp last fall while the proj- ect filmed in nearby Hartington, Plainview and environs, to premiere the picture there.
Ringing true and finding Woody
Oscar-winner Payne is a stickler for the truth and with the by-turns elegiac and silly Nebraska he went to extreme lengths finding the people and places that ring true to his and screenwriter Bob Nelson’s vision of Midwest America. “This is the most authentically Nebraska feature film I’ve released to date,” said Payne, who previously made Citizen Ruth, Election and About Schmidt in-state.
Casting director John Jackson and Payne searched long and hard for the right players to animate the oddball yet familiar characters Nelson created on the page. In a rare star turn winning him much acclaim Bruce Dern so fully inhabits his old codger of a character, Woody Grant, that despite the actor’s well known face and voice he disappears into the part to become just another of the story’s small town residents. Dern plays Woody as written: a taciturn man of stoic roots and repressed pain long alienated from everyone around him. Feeling a failure near the end of his life, he’s desperate for some validation and so gets it in his head that he’s a sweepstakes winner. His son David, played by Will Forte, takes him on an epic journey to claim the prize. Amid the missteps and detours comes discovery, empathy and closure. As their strained relationship warms the son gives his father a gift born of understanding, forgiveness and love.
One of the reasons Payne said Dern leapt to mind when he originally read the script a decade ago is that like the actor’s actress daughter Laura Dern, who starred in Payne’s feature debut Citizen Ruth, he doesn’t worry about what he looks like on screen. To convincingly play the gone-to-seed Woody the actor inhabiting the role had to look a wreck. “Those Derns don’t have vanity,” Payne said admiringly. “They’ll do anything, they want to do anything. When working they’re more inter- ested in hitting a certain level of truth, an often ugly truth or pathetic truth, and now you’re talking my language.”
Payne elaborated on what made Dern the right fit, “Bruce is a handsome guy when he’s cleaned up and obviously as you can see in the film when he’s not cleaned up he can really look like a coot and a weirdo. If you took many other actors and tried to do the same thing they’d look fake. The guy would have to portray someone cut off from others and lost in his own world. Woody’s probably been like that somewhat his whole life but as a young man they just thought he was reticent. Now he’s a coot and ornery and pissed off at himself that he hasn’t done anything with his life and now he’s about to start taking a dirt nap. I think that’s certainly what’s driving Woody’s crazy mission in some part.
“When I thought about who could communicate that I thought of Bruce.” Payne felt Dern could express the two sides of Woody as both prick and pushover who can’t refuse doing favors, even if it means be- ing taken advantage of. He also detected “a certain childlike nature” in Dern that aligned with Woody’s fragility. “I think within Woody’s ornery crust there is something of a child – of a very disillusioned and disappointed child.” Indeed, we first meet Woody as he’s running away from home. “There’s also a sweetness about Woody and Bruce is a sweet guy. He hasn’t often played that.”
Dern acknowledges it’s a departure for him. “Throughout my career I’ve been flamboyant in a lot of roles, especially flamboyantly evil, and there’s a certain style that goes with that.” Nebraska called for him to be a dull, muted, passive presence. “What the role demanded was a character who appeared to not be touched too much or too little,” he said, “and probably not touched at all. And if he touches other people it’s without planning to do it. He’s just who he is and he’s always going to be that way. I think he’s a fair man, Woody, and that’s another thing I based the character on a lot. Because he’s fair he believes what people tell him because he doesn’t know why anybody would want to lie to him about anything.”
The tangibles and intangibles of a character go into any casting decision. “When you cast someone in a lead you’re not casting just his or her ability to act,” explained Payne. “you’re casting the substance or essence of their person. There’s two things going on simultaneously seemingly contradictory but not. One is you want them to become that person in the script yet at the same time not act.”
Actor and director arriving to the truth
Dern said Payne has an uncanny way of communicating what he wants, variously tapping “your strengths and weaknesses and sometimes invading your privacy” to extract the emotion or tone he’s after. Actors Studio veteran Dern believes he achieved a progressive in-the-moment reality in Nebraska he’d never accomplished before on a film. “I’ve always wanted to be a human being and just kind of acting—otherwise leave myself alone and not perform and I don’t think there’s really a moment in the movie where I perform—in other words take it above the context of what it really is. The first day of the movie Alexander said to me, ‘I’d like you to let Mr. Papamichael (cinematographer) and I do our jobs,’ meaning don’t show me anything, let me find it with the camera, and that’s what he did and that’s what you see.
“That doesn’t mean I wasn’t acting. It was as hard a role as I’ve had to take on but I feel I owed it to the material and to my career for just once in my life to try and have as many consecutive moment- to-moment pure moments of behavior. That’s what I began when I worked with Mr. Kazan and Mr. Strasberg in the Actors Studio—how much moment to moment real behavior can you have? And I think in Nebraska I’ve done far and away the most I’ve had in an entire film.”
Forte, a relative newcomer to acting after years writing for television, said he learned a lot from his co-star. “Bruce would always say, ‘Just be truthful,’ and that always sounded like acting mumbo jumbo to me coming in but for some reason the way he would explain it and describe it it made sense. There’s such an honesty that comes from his performance and all the performances that it really taught me a lot to watch everyone work.”
Dern said Payne lived up to what his daughter Laura and his old acting chum Jack Nicholson, who starred in the director’s About Schmidt, told him about the filmmaker: “They both said in separate conversations, ‘He’ll be the best teammate you’ve ever had.’ They were right. I feel it’s the best team, overall, I’ve ever had.”
Payne, whose sets are famously relaxed, said he also casts with an eye to who will “be nice to work with” and contribute to the playfulness he believes essential to good filmmaking. “I want to be there to play. I don’t know exactly how it (any scene) should be, I’m there to sort of say, ‘Oh, well, let’s try this and let’s try that, nudging the machine toward a certain direction. It’s not all preconceived, you’re discovering it day by day, so I think you want actors who are willing to have a sense of, Let’s be playful and free. It’s all about having fun, and that will create something none of us have thought of exactly.”
Dern said he’s glad it took nearly a decade to get the film made – the project came to Payne as the filmmaker was setting up Sideways – because “I wasn’t ready to play this role a few years ago.” The passage of time put some more natural wear and tear on Dern, both physically and emotionally. The limp he walks with in the film is real, if exaggerated, and the way Woody leaves things unsaid is something Dern said he’s been guilty of himself and regrets.
Life informing art
Similarly, Payne’s personal life caught up with the experience of David in Nebraska as an adult child dealing with aging parents. Payne’s father is in a nursing home and his mother recently survived a serious health scare. “I was able to make it quite personal in certain details related to David taking care of his older folks,” Payne said. “Everyone I know of my generation at that age has parents that are getting on and need a little special attention. We love them to death and they drive us crazy. How we take care of them and accommodate them and all those things, and how far do we extend ourselves to be dutiful and at what point do we cut it off, all those questions. It wound up being because of the time in my life when I was making it quite personal. The fact that I had that much more life experience for this film with respect to my parents, I think helps the film. It always helps a film if you can put some of yourself in there.”
Payne said the bottomed-out economy also enhanced the austere shooting style and stark look of the film, adding, “Those winds blew their way into the film as well and it becomes more of a Depression Era film.” Undoubtedly some will take umbrage at the film’s portrayals of quirky. salt-of-the-earth types. But if the strong reception the picture’s received at the Cannes, Telluride and New York Film Festivals, among others, is any indication, than most audiences realize Payne and his collaborators sought archetype, not caricature in bringing to life small town inhabitants and the dysfunctional Grant family.
“I hope what people take away from this movie is his genuine love for Nebraska because he really does love Nebraska” said Forte. Dern calls the film “a love poem” to Nebraska from Payne.
Payne, Nelson, Jackson, Papamichael, editor Kevin Tent, assorted other crew and the ensemble cast all committed to realizing authentic portraits of this comic-dramatic Midwest Gothic tale. As Payne is both a writer and a director he made his own pass on the Nelson script. He’s particularly proud of the simple yet sublime and nearly wordless ending he hit upon that may just go down as one of the most memorable and moving conclusions in the annals of American cinema. A series of telling looks are exchanged that say more than any words can. He’s pleased too by his handling of the film’s black and white and wide screen that help make Nebraska an expressionistic experience for the way he and Papamichael evoke mood from light, shadow, landscape and framing. The juxtaposition of persons and places carries meaning.
Creating a world through casting
But what Payne’s most eager to talk about is how Nebraska lives and breathes on the strength of its casting and melding of actors and extras. “Whatever achievements this film Nebraska may or may not have for me its greatest achievement is its most significant marriage of profes- sional and nonprofessional actors and nonactors because to create that world it’s dependent equally on production design and casting. That’s what suggests that world is that flesh. We spent over a year doing it so that they all seem like they’re in the same movie. Finding those vivid nonactors takes time.
“Official preproduction is going to start maybe fifteen weeks out but I need casting and location scouting to start many, many weeks before that and I do a lot of the scouting way in advance of a greenlight. Whenever I’d have three free days I’d just take off in my car around the state.” He’s come to know rural Nebraska quite well. It’s why he’s confident he cast not only the right locales but the right faces and voices. He goes so far as to say, “Casting is the most important thing” and “The best thing I do as a director is cast. You can’t f___ up casting. You’ve got to get the right people in every part and of course the leads and the secondary, tertiary parts have to be exactly right. It’s creating a world.” He likes saying his movie is as much “anthropological” as anything.
Prepping the movie, he said, “I looked at a number of small town American films. One of them in particular is an excellent film and it has professional actors but also people cast from that small town. But there’s a great chasm between the acting styles of the two. It’s like the faces of the real people lend what they’re supposed to lend which is authenticity, verisimilitude and all that but they’re not acting properly, even as versions of themselves.
“So I knew we had to spend time to get local people who could act as vividly as possible as versions as themselves but also to have the professional actors act flatter. They both had to meet in between. I like when professional actors act more flatly like people do in real life. People don’t gesticulate, go into histrionics in real life, not Midwesterners anyway.”
A cinema seldom seen
Truth is always the litmus test for Payne. “When I’m in a casting session it’s no different from how I am on the set, which is the moment they start acting I pretend in my mind that we’re not making a movie, that I’m just there invisible watching something. Do I believe it? That’s the trick. Do I buy it? Do I think these are real people?”
Payne’s likely to return to Nebraska again to make films. It’s only natural. “Other directors continue to make films in the cities where they grew up. Paul Thomas Anderson and Quentin Tarantino shoot in L.A. Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese and so many others in New York. Kurosawa would never leave Tokyo. Pedro Almodovar hasn’t made a movie outside of Spain. Fellini never made a movie outside of Italy. They were courted and invited a lot. ‘No, no, this is where I feel comfortable, where I feel like I know the people and where I can get the details right.’”
It’s the same reasoning Payne uses for making movies here. Then there’s the fact that by tackling subjects so close to home he can show a segment of America too often missing from today’s cinema. “I think in general we Americans need to see Americans in our films but we kind of don’t, we see cartoons largely. As Americans we make cartoons easily digestible for the rest of the world but we’re not showing ourselves to ourselves. I like when art is a mirror somehow to represent or reflect or distort or refract, just to see ourselves like our film in the ‘70s, showing common people doing every day things. . . .”
He said a recurring comment he hears about Nebraska is that “we haven’t seen these Americans in a long time. It’s as though they’re forgotten, we never see them in the cinema. I thought that was interesting that people really feel they’re seeing Americans they’ve never seen before. Of course, I really appreciate that.”
As one of only a handful of Nebraska feature filmmakers who’s cultivated the state on screen, he said, “I think I’m lucky I’m from Nebraska and that I have a virgin territory to show in movies. Maybe the fact I’ve seen so many movies informs the fact that I can know even unconsciously what would be new. I don’t want to make derivative films, I want to do something new.”
By the same token, Payne, who reveres classic cinema, said, “People have said of Nebraska, ‘This is a film like they used to make,’ and that makes me feel good because I’m trying to make films like how they used to make. I’m trying to make the films I myself would like to see, which is film from the ‘70s and before.”
In truth, Payne’s made a timeless film that plays like a loony requiem set to its own internal rhythm and logic. It unfolds slowly but surely and from the mix of somber, sweet and surreal emerges a lyrical comic- drama unlike any other. Because of this cinematic prairie poem the state will surely never be looked at the same again.
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leoadambiga
Author-journalist-blogger Leo Adam Biga resides in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. He writes newspaper-magazine stories about people, their passions, and their magnificent obsessions. He's the author of the books "Crossing Bridges: A Priest's Uplifting Life Among the Downtrodden," "Alexander Payne: His Journey in Film" (a compilation of his journalism about the acclaimed filmmaker) "Open Wide" a biography of Mark Manhart. Biga co-edited "Memories of the Jewish Midwest: Mom and Pop Grocery Stores." His popular blog, Leo Adam Biga's My Inside Stories at leoadambiga.com, is an online gallery of his work. The blog feeds into his Facebook page, My Inside Stories, as well as his Twitter, Google, LinkedIn, Tumblr, About.Me and other social media platform pages.
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Subjects/Themes
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Tag Archives: false consciousness
Why Don’t These Rich Liberals Act Like the Self-Serving Bastards They Are?
In 1998, Howie Klein was the president of Reprise Records, and had the privilege of attending a dinner Bill Clinton threw to honor Vaclav Havel. The entertainment that evening was Lou Reed. (Havel is a big fan.) Klein was seated at a table with Senator Dick Lugar, the Indiana Republican, and he remembers Lugar’s reaction to Reed’s performance:
Lou Reed sang “Dirty Blvd,” his then-current hit. People kind of recognized the melody or something and they kind of danced in their seats. I remember Lugar could barely contain himself. His big plastic smile never even faded when Lou sang:
Give me your hungry, your tired your poor I’ll piss on ’em
That’s what the Statue of Bigotry says
Your poor huddled masses, let’s club ’em to death
and get it over with and just dump ’em on the boulevard
No one seems to have noticed but me and my friend Brian.
For that brief moment, it was as if the country had not just gone through the adolescent convulsions of the Lewinsky affair. Vice President Gore’s “chair rocked constantly during Reed’s 35-minute performance,” according to a report in the Washington Post.
“Political leaders rarely listen to lyrics,” writes Klein. Maybe that’s why none of the APEC leaders took much notice the other night when Makana, dressed in an Occupy with Aloha t-shirt, sang his “Occupy” song for 45 minutes to the assembled dignitaries. But I wonder if that’s all there is to it.
Something else might be at work here as well. I am especially intrigued by the Post report of Al Gore rocking back and forth in his chair to Lou Reed. That’s not someone ignoring the music; that’s someone digging it. And from what I have seen and read about Al Gore, it’s pretty safe to assume that he was genuinely enjoying Reed’s performance. And why not? In his mind, he’s no bigot; he’s a friend of the poor and the huddled masses. How could he think otherwise? He and Lou Reed are on the same side; he shares the rocker’s indignation.
I am willing to bet that Gore doesn’t see himself as an oppressor or exploiter, and neither, for that matter, does Dick Lugar. Does that make them delusional, or hypocrites, or is it evidence of false consciousness? Maybe. Gore’s detractors like to put up images of his compound in Tennessee and talk about its huge energy footprint. They calculate how much fossil fuel he burns, flying around in airplanes to educate people about climate change. It’s an easy game to play.
But I wonder what it really proves about Al Gore (or Dick Lugar, or anyone, for that matter). Would Gore be a more credible messenger if he lived in a small solar-powered cabin and cycled to his engagements? Probably. Would you and I have heard of him? Unlikely. Would the world be better off if he just gave up, sank into an oblivious rich man’s hedonism, and cackled with wild delight as he drove a Hummer over the fragile habitats of endangered species? Probably not.
The right has now learned from the politically-correct left to demand ideological and moral purity from the left. There is something ridiculous in the demand. I’d say the same about putting too much emphasis on moral consistency.
Be that as it may, it’s now Michael Moore’s turn to prove his authenticity, or at least disprove his duplicity. While mixing with the Occupy protestors, Moore has had to defend himself, repeatedly, against the charge that he belongs to the 1 percent. And there’s little doubt he does, if you look strictly at the numbers: the top one percent in this country earn around 350,000 dollars a year.
So a CBS reporter in Denver asks Moore whether it’s true that he’s worth 50 million dollars; Moore calls the reporter a punk and tells him to stop lying. A blogger with the same Denver TV station lambasts Moore for his “hypocrisy.” Fox News and the New York Post have been flashing pictures of Moore’s lavish Torch Lake compound. They were also posted on Andrew Breitbart’s Big Hollywood blog.
On CNN, Piers Morgan put the question to Moore this way:
“I need you to admit the bleeding obvious. I need you to sit here and say, ‘I’m in the 1 percent,’ ” Morgan pressed.
“I’m not,” Moore insisted. “I am devoting my life to those who have less and who have been crapped upon by the system.”
His evasive answer caused an uproar. “How Rich is Mr. 99%?” “Hypocrite and Liar.” “Occupy Wall Street Supporter Michael Moore Belongs to the Affluent Class.” But it’s also worth thinking about. Moore is trying, clumsily, to say you can be in a socio-economic class but not of it. He would have a much easier time of it if he would just “admit the bleeding obvious,” but let’s not pretend for a moment that that would silence his critics. Might Michael Moore be acting in his own rational economic self-interest by pretending to be one of, or at least one with, the 99 percent? Sure. But I’m naive enough, or optimistic enough about human nature, to think Moore’s concern for “those who have less” is genuine. Does it amount to more than noblesse oblige dressed down in a baseball cap? That’s hard to say.
It’s mildly amusing to see the American news media peddling class warfare and crude ideas about class-consciousness, but if that’s the game we’re playing, then let’s start looking at the class interests behind the American news media. CNN? Piers Morgan? CBS? Fox News? Andrew Breitbart? Follow the money. Let’s specify the interests behind the American news media’s questioning of Michael Moore’s true allegiances or those asking about his annual income. Let’s look at the rich people they ostracize and those they unthinkingly celebrate. It should be obvious – bleeding obvious — that Michael Moore is not the problem; but there are people determined to make him the problem, and you have to wonder why.
I’m certainly not out to defend Michael Moore. Nor does he need me to defend him. Yes, Michael Moore has gotten very rich from his books and films. Yes, he’s obnoxious. Yes, he shamelessly promotes himself. Would he command more credence if he were not all those things – if he were poor, soft-spoken, and retiring? Maybe, but then most likely his films would never have gotten made or shown, and — more to the point — the TV would just find somebody else to distract us all from the real troubles of the day, or some other way to feed the resentment that keeps ordinary people from acting in their own best interests.
This entry was posted in Louis V. Galdieri's Blog and tagged Al Gore, Bill Clinton, class consciousness, class warfare, Dick Lugar, false consciousness, Howie Klein, hypocrisy, Lou Reed, Michael Moore, Occupy Wall Street, OWS, social class, wealth on November 15, 2011 by lvgaldieri.
A Brief Note to Close the Year
On the Boundary Waters, Top Interior Department Lawyer Gets the Historical Record Wrong
Interior Still Hiding the Role of Political Appointees — Update on the Boundary Waters FOIA Case
Posner is Right About Why Friedman is Wrong, But…
Boundary Waters FOIA on Fox 9 “Investigators”
@Blancanieve72 @DoctorVive twitter.com/youthvgov/stat… twitter.com/youthvgov/stat… 9 hours ago
@DoctorVive Well, I found it instructive, for what it’s worth. It starts on p. 32. twitter.com/caitlinmccoy_/… twitter.com/caitlinmccoy_/… 11 hours ago
@DoctorVive Read the dissent, though. 11 hours ago
It’s remarkable how often we ask this question about ourselves, or imagine future people asking it about us.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 12 hours ago
But the dissent says the political branches just look like a dead end. twitter.com/aripeskoe/stat… twitter.com/aripeskoe/stat… 12 hours ago
1913 Massacre
ask is a verb
Boundary Waters
Boundary Waters Reversal
Eagle Mine
environmental ethics
joint commitment
Lundin Mining
Marquette County Road Commission
Marquette County Road Commission v. EPA
non-coercion
non-coercive power
Polymet
serious conversations
sulfide mining
the power of asking
Twin Metals
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BRAVE MUM: Mrs Faifai Levi leaves Ipswich Courthouse after giving an apology to the Judge for the crimes of her son Maotua.
‘Please forgive my son’ mum’s court apology for $130K fraud
Ross Irby, ross.irby@qt.com.au
22nd Nov 2019 11:30 PM
A TEARFUL mother has apologised to a judge for the crimes of her son who stole $135,000 worth of mobile phones and items from his work.
Her 24-year-old son Maotua Levi blamed the financial pressure of looking after his extended family for his criminal offending while employed as a courier for a Karalee company.
The court heard the father of two may have received just $6000 when he sold boxes of the phones to a mystery man on the Gold Coast.
Watched by a dozen family members and friends when he appeared in the dock of Ipswich District Court, Maotua Levi pleaded guilty to committing fraud (dishonest application of property of another) valued at least $100,000.
Two of his victims also watched the legal proceedings.
Crown prosecutor Caitlin Thompson said the courier company did an audit on June 5 last year and discovered that 21 consignments involving phones and related devices had not been delivered between May 10 and May 21, 2018.
Levi had deliberately not scanned the missing goods through the company system with the total loss worth $135,284," the court heard.
Ms Thompson said Levi made full admissions to police saying he on-sold the items "to an unknown male on the Gold Coast" because he was suffering financial hardship.
She said his criminal activity meant a significant loss and had jeopardised the company.
The Crown sought a jail term of 4 ½ years but given his age with no criminal history Levi could be released earlier before serving one-third.
She said he'd already spent 21 days in custody.
Defence barrister Rob Carroll sought a four year jail term with an earlier release.
He then presented Judge Alexander Horneman-Wren SC with a pile of reference letters to read including one written by Levi's family church pastor.
The hearing was delayed while he read the late lodgement of material - after noting Levi had pleaded guilty back in August.
Mr Carroll said Levi had shown a high level of co-operation with police and remorse.
The offending had been done in a short time space with financial hardship underlaying it.
Mr Carroll said Levi's now ex-partner had stopped working at the time because of the birth of their second child, his father's job had ceased, and Levi had to financially contribute to the expenses of the rented house they all shared.
"His relationship was on the rocks. He was in a situation where he was supporting two families and three siblings," Mr Carroll said.
"It was all spent on living expenses. He was given what was offered for the boxes. Told police he got upwards of $6000.
"He was quite shocked to hear the total value of the fraud. Wasn't thinking straight at the time."
Mr Carroll said Levi lost his job but had since found another that paid $100 a week more and was still financially supporting his family.
He also sent money to his grandmother in Western Samoa.
Levi is a New Zealand citizen and a resident of Australia, works nine to 10 hours days, see's his children, and goes to church on Sundays - "that's his life", Mr Carroll said.
Mr Carroll said Levi cut hair for the homeless at barbecues in Logan, leads a very simple life, "with no assets to offer as restitution".
Levi had also been a good rugby league player but did not take up an offer to play Under 25's instead deciding to go into the work force.
"He feels great shame," he said.
Judge Horneman-Wren said Levi had shown "absolute disdain" in the contemptuous way he treated the property of others in that its actual value was of no concern and he'd get what he could get.
But Mr Carroll said it was more reflective of his "desperation".
In a surprise twist Levi's mother stood up in the courtroom saying she would like to "apologise to everyone especially the company for what my son did."
"Please forgive my son. It's the first time something has happened to him. I do apologise for what he did.
"So please, please forgive my son for what he did. Thank you very much."
Levi then stood in the dock and wiping away some tears said he would like to apologise to the business "for what I've done".
"I want to apologise. I known I deserve the consequences of what I've done. Thank you."
Judge Horneman-Wren said he stole the goods while working for a courier company his crime not sophisticated.
"You told police you were suffering financial hardship. But such financial hardship is not unusual in our society," Judge Horneman-Wren said.
"You succumbed to temptation of your employment. It was a gross breach of trust."
Judge Horneman-Wren noted that it seems very much out of character, and the conviction would likely impact his ability to stay in Australia.
Levi was convicted and sentenced to four years jail. He must serve 12 months with the remaining three years then suspended for five years.
premium_icon Manhunt for killer after body found in sleeping bag
premium_icon International company fined $200k after worker dies on shift
fraud case ipswich courthouse ipswich court news ipswich crime
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